WPX CW Soapbox built 7-11-2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 2E0CVN Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 1,145,727 First time entered as a 2E0 (Ex: M3CVN) and the rare prefix helped to get a good score on all bands. A smaller score but 200 QSO's more than SSB WPX. Plenty of QSO's which is nice! First time I have got over 1000 from the home QTH. Managed to get a few good runs together. Superb short skip on all bands during Saturday and fantastic ES on 28MHz throughout the the weekend which helped make the QSO total go up nicely. Nice opening to the US Sunday evening on 20m. Lots of 4/5 banders and one (OM7M) on all 6 Bands. FT-1000MP - 50watts - Full size G5RV/R6000 Vertical + 300ft Radials. Just goes to show you what Low power and antennas in open space can do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 3W9R Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 48,314 Just fun and family trips during contest weekned. See you soon. 73s Stan 3W9R/OK1JR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4M5DX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 6,820,248 A goog oprtunity to meet with the good friends here at home.Conditions were very rare and no good openings on 15M and 20M from here.WX conditions were also unstable,first night a electrical storm disurb a lot the RX.Thanks to all who called us and spoted us,qsl via IT9DAA,see you next year. RIG:Icom IC-775DSP AMP:Icom IC-4KL 1KW ANT SEL:Icom EX-627 SOFT:Win-Test 4M5DXgroup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4N8A Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 3,392,804 The weather was very, very changable, sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, so the CONDX were the same. Expected more USA and JA, but there were 100's of DL,SP,OK, UA.My CW speed was 36-42 wpm and a lot of op's were calling again, I suppose some of them got me 4N8A, some of them me VN8A. Did not have any problems with my TS-870+SB-220+4-el.quad+GP. When I had the rest, I did not sleep, I visited 2-nd location and YZ0Z , Milan-YU1ZZ, big GUN on 15m. There were a lot of "JELEN" bear. And finally, I Have to learn more about N1MM ? Dule YU1EA & 4N8A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4O4A Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 875,000 Enough for new Montenegrin record... :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 4O5A Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 5,658,334 Lot of QRN during the contest... TNX & 73! Voja ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 5H3EE Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 3,021,330 FT890AT + FL2100Z 80/40/20 inverted vee dipole used for all bands The most important decision I made before the contest: I will participate from my home qth, but not at the 5I3A-club. What a fatal mistake. At the club we have a KLM-logperiodic, but no usable antenna for 80/40. Local noise is a problem there as well. At home my Inverted Vee (http://www.zawadi.de/multidipole.htm) is working fairly well on the low bands, but just a compromise for the upper ones. I always felt to be strong in EU on 40m in the last weeks and was stupid enough to hope for lots of 6-point QSOs. But a contest is a real different issue, the QRM from all the big guns is huge and in summer QRN is a problem as well. Hopefully I will read this before the next contest... Saturday was difficult, 40m just frustrating: strong signals but nobody did hear me. 20m was weak and closed very early, 15m was fine with strong sigs from JA/EU and fairly to NA. Sunday was better, 20m was fine in the evening to EU and NA, 15m again strong to JA. At the best time for JA 2 hours power cut did bring some unexpected sleep. Both days 10m was not really open here, the beam could have changed this picture probably. Tried hard to get some points on 40m in the last minutes, to reach at least the 3mio points. Thanks for digging me out of the QRN. Anyway, did learn a lot again... See you all in the next contest. 73 de Mike 5H3EE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 5P1AA Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 3,654,962 Tricky call to get across - many might still think they worked Panama. Otherwise the contest turned out as a fine EU QSO party including a US run Saturday night on 40 and another one Sunday afternoon on 20. Thanks for calling in and thanks to OZ7YY for the use of the station! 73, Thomas www.oz1aa.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 7X0RY Class: SOSB80 HP Total Score = 1,717,144 Horible QRN... and local storms.... TNX" nice QSO/contest.. 73 !!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9A5K Class: SOSB80 HP Total Score = 744,762 Rig: Kenwood TS-950SDX + EZMaster PA: OM-Power HF2500 (http://www.om-power.com) - excellent performer Ant: Vertical (20m wire on Spiderbeam 18m pole - http://www.spiderbeam.net) This was first contest activity from my new contest site near Zabok, in north west Croatia. Site is "under construction", first antenna is this vertical for 80m, constructed and erected just before contest, during Friday afternoon. Too bad that I didn't have time to put any RX antenna. Heavy QRN on 80m, and thunderstorm during Sunday evening. Congrats to SO2R and 4O3A on big scores. Many tower/antenna works are planned for summer, hope to have at least some bands ready for CQ WW both modes. Thanks to all for qso, see you in next one. 73, Chris - 9A5K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9A5W Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 3,020,304 Could not work all 36 hours and choose the best operating perods witihn 36 hours. I spent a lot of time to repair PA and standing by having bad QRN caused by weather exchange. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9A7P Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 638,166 TS440S+TS440S 2 el.QUAD (20-10m), 40&80m dipoles We started training CW with newcomers 2 months before WPX. Even tho finally they all know letters and numbers it's hard for them to get fast CW from the WPX. However thanks to hard RUFZXP work 9A3BGR made it and did some QSOs! 9A8MM and myself spent other time doing SO2R as 9A7P and that's why we claim M/2 :-) SO2R & nice short skip on upper bands made WPX really great! CU in next one, 73, Hrle - 9A6XX www.rkp.hr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9M2CNC Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 1,882,748 Station: IC 756 Pro, amplifier 400W Antennas: Force 12 C3S at 12m, 40m Inverted V at 12m A difficult contest from here with variable conditions. On Sunday night (local) 20m closed early and 40m was curiously un-useable (absorbtion?, EU M/M were 599 plus Saturday night and then 439 Sunday night). 4 hours of prime time lost with the main 20m EU runs gone on Sunday. My new amplifier failed in its first contest after only 6 hours so back to the UK for repair. I fortunately had a standby amplifer to use. 10m - very surprised to work some EU stations with SFI around 68! 15m - some good EU runs but signals were weak. It too me a few goes to get serials due to signal strength and QSB so thanks for the re-sends. It does amuse me that after taking 3 or 4 bites to get a full callsign some stations only send their serial once knowing that I must be either deaf (must likely) or signals are weak. 20m - some good runs to Europe on Saturday but Sunday was a disaster. The high A and K values made the polar path to NA very difficult. I was pleased to work W1CU (E21EIC op) and K3ZO. As a thread in the CQ-Contest list states Fred is a real gentlemen and I am always pleased to get a greeting from him when we work even though he is running stations. The Carribean night (local) path opened as expected (non-polar) with booming signals. It always make me smile when I am able to break EU pileups to work Carribean stations (albeit during the 1 or 2 hours that the path is open to here!) over a 11,000 mile path. 40m - very disappointing. I re-built the antenna with new feeder and my RFI problems on the band have gone (the feedpoint was corroded). The band was very quiet on Saturday night with excellent signals from EU but I just couldn't get a run going. I missed the VE6/W6/7 sunrise opening on Saturday evening (local) but I managed it on Sunday evening (local) but then QRN was then a problem so very few NA stations worked. However, I was very pleased to not hear the BY OTHR operating (it was on prior to the contest). 80m - too much rain before the contest to put the antenna up. A couple of very poor signals from Asia resulted in noisy bands and spurious signals from time to time. Thank you for the QSOs and next contest from here will be AA DX CW. QSL via G4ZFE. 73 de Rich, G4ZFE/9M2CNC/HS0ZGZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: 9M8DX Class: SOSB15 LP Total Score = 627,328 I would like to dedicate this effort in memory of Festus, 9M8FH, who became a silent key earlier this year. He has been a good friend of mine for the past 16 years and will be missed deeply. Conditions were probably at the absolute bottom (at least I hope it will never get worse then this). Just 2 years ago I managed over 1600 QSO's, running same 100 watts power, at the same place and the same band. Now as soon as it got dark, 15 m was closed up. No USA propagation and relatively very few JA's. Eu was weak and struggle. I am just hoping that from now it can only get better. See you in the contest next time. 73 to all and thanks for being patient copying my signal. Mirek 9M8DX VK6DXI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA3B Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 4,781,768 Lost about 30 minutes in the last hour due to thunderstorms. The live score board was fun to watch. 73 Bud AA3B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4NC Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 377,765 Casual effort after virtually being off the air for a couple years. Good to hear many familiar calls again. 73, Will ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA5B Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 1,936,404 Many thanks to Peter and Neida, K5HAB and W5HAB, for putting up with me for the weekend. Had lots of stuff to do at home, so couldn't stay in the chair for the whole 36 hrs. I think this was my first WPX in more than a decade, and had a great time despite the bad condx and several little issues with software, hardware, noise, weather, etc. 73, Bruce AA5B Force12 tribander (XR5? 2 elements per band) @80 ft 80/40 inverted vees @ 70 ft Orion, Acom, WriteLog ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA6PW Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 401,625 Planned on a full time effort. Shortly after the 1st break at 0730 UTC received a call from my daughter who informed me it was time to deliver my 1st grandchild. Pulled the plug on the radio and 16 hours later we had a grandson. Daughter and grandchild are healthy and well. My daughter now has two strikes. The last time this kind of thing happend was having her wedding on field day weekend :-). Bob AA6PW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA8IA Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 45,296 First contest outside of qso parties and FD. Had a blast. FT-100, 85w, 40m dipole @18ft. Tnx for the fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB2E Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 1,460,209 Using wire antennas only from home QTH. G5RV @ 35ft for 10-40, Inverted L for 80m. Very pleased with the results, considering the lack of yagis, and poor condx. Thanks to all who worked me. 73 Darrell AB2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AB7E Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 441,378 Great conditions on 20m Sunday, but low power and only wire antennas still made it tough getting heard through the QRM. I'm always impressed by all the fine ops out there who are able to stay focused in these long contests better than I am, though, and I'm sure my scores would be better if I had some of their talent. I spent 30 hours in this contest and didn't really notice any nasty behavior compared to some of the winter DX contests. Maybe people just had fun in this one. 73, Dave AB7E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC4JI Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 7,520 53 QSOs, 160 points, 47 WPX Part-time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD6WL Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 211,735 Horrible conditions. Not much DX from the west coast. Not even a run going to Asia. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6RF Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 32,136 A reasonably serious effort at this end, given other life commitments this weekend. Was reasonably happy with the results given my CW skills, antennas and local noise levels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AJ1I Class: SOSB80 HP Total Score = 830,685 First 3 QSOs were with CX,ZS,and 6W,then a string of W's. Europe didn't open until 0030Z, then it was a steady stream. Finished the first night with a score of 408K, including 170 6-point QSOs. Condx the first night were quite noisy, requiring many repeats. No UAs were either worked or heard the first night. Best DX was a toss up between ZS4TX, VK4TT, and 3D2EE. Second night condx were better, but because of the operating time limitations many stations sleep the second night, so there were fewer stations to work. RU1A was the first UA worked at 0017Z, quickly followed by 6 more. Last UA was worked at 0101Z. 80M during the summer is a different animal. The opening to Europe is much shorter, signals are lower, and noise is higher. A new local source of interference also became noticeable this weekend that will have to be traced down and corrected. QSO Pts Breakdown 1 335 4 49 6 262 Station Orion, Acom Amp, 4square in a salt water marsh, NE and W beverages. Thanks for the QSOs! It was great fun! Dennis AJ1I (W1UE) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AK1W Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,063,380 Busy days at work left me without enough sleep to do the first night. Operated on and off on Saturday. Visit to the inlaws on Sunday so went to bed Sat night when I made it past 1 Meg. Limited time, but fun as always. With conditions the way they were, it was almost like two separate contests going on. There was an EU QSO Party and an NA QSO Party. Only at a few times of the day did the two mix! 15m was open to Europe, sometimes with good signals, but it was late in the day and I think most guys had given up on it opening. So no activity. Remember, this is a summer time contest so high bands are better at night! Did a lot of S&P to give guys the AK1 multiplier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AK6M Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 429,342 Enjoyed handing out the AK6 prefix for this contest. Had some good runs on 20M (the "money band"). Europe was very difficult compared to last year. Short 10M opening on Saturday afternoon was nice. Ran 600-700 watts using FT1000MP Mark V, Ameritron AL-811H, Force 12 C3SS + G5RV, and N1MM Contest software. No Murphy-related problems. Thanks for the Qs! 73, John, K6MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AK9D Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 86,086 The amp was broken so ended up running LP. Still a lot of fun just on a multi-band wire antenna. See you next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AY7X Class: M/S HP Total Score = 19,810 For problems with the soft, it should be canceled before that thought. It is a pain. Bad conditions in SA 008. 73:):) LU3XQ AND LU6XQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: B7P Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 4,001,294 Many happy UT3UA Sergey worked the contest with us, and share his experience with us. The contest very hard, big raining and lighting during. Have to QRT some hours... See you in IARU contest... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: C6AWL Class: SOSB40 LP Total Score = 2,021,447 Used the same location as in ARRL CW but decided to go single band. Low power into an inverted vee is not a lot of fun, even in C6. Need to learn more about using verticals on the beach for the next one. Thanks for QSOs everyone. Special thanks to those who spent up to 5 minutes digging my puny signal out of the noise. Dimitri RA3CO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: C6AYM Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 2,608,056 Bahamas Ya Mon! Whew bands condx sounded crummy on Saturday so I took a listen to WWV to find out the A=16 and K=4...ouch! I should of taken more off time during this portion of the contest but decided to slug it out...which was a tactical error on my part. I don't use caffeine so fatigue caught up to me on Saturday night. Between Dayton, work, travel, and setup...my energy level was destined for a recharge at some point. Unfortunately, that hurt my low band effort on the second night. Some day I'll get the off time planning figured out! At 2345z Saturday (almost 1/2 way through) the maintenance man knocks on the door and informs me that the #1 boss wants me to take down the antennas! I had coordinated (before arriving) for the use of the roof etc with the #2 boss so I was surprised and disappointed in this request. I mentioned that the contest was 1/2 way over and that in another 24 hours everything would be down...I asked whether we could work something out. Well he never came back so that was a good sign. Anyways the #2 in charge didn't mention the radio antennas to the #1 in charge and supposedly some toes were stepped on. Misc notes: No flight delays either way. Had a perfect view of the Nassau harbor entrance for seeing all the cruise ships. Finished setup at 1600 local on Thursday. Wow has Atlantis expanded! Winds were 10-20 mph...glad antennas all stayed up! Explored some new restaurants. Long coax runs (150-200') since I was at the far north end of the hotel. Hotel $482, Air $352, overweight baggage charges $125, parking $152, operating as DX from The Bahamas....priceless :-) Yaesu FT-857D and the following antennas about 60-65 feet ASL: 80m dipole (80/10m) 40m dipole (40/15m) Force12 Sigma-40XK/remote (20m) Well I didn't beat my 2006 score but I still had FUN! 73, Eric No worries Mon! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CE4CT Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 3,508,104 Tnx Roberto,CE4CT, for host and sharing your time to help me, What a pity condx were not quite good,but It was interesting to find om`s anywhere CW party was great. CQWW is The Contest, congratulations to everybody who are behind It. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CT6A Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 4,669,918 Conditions to USA were just awsome... first night worked USA + VK + ZL on 20m till 0400, secund night was simillar.. I never expected so good conditions on 10m. Secund night worked about 250 North America on 10m. 57,4% EU 35% NA 80m was very noisy cause of stroms nearby... 73's Filipe CT1ILT aka CT6A 6Y3T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: CX6VM Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 138,462 Have fun in low bands! Seems a lot of QRN in the other side was dificult to made a valid QSO, but finaly 7X0RY get me correctly. Nice to have TA2RC and KH6ND in 160 mts! See you in the next contest... 73, Jorge CX6VM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DA0I Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,390,540 Good fun, but low bands were very noisy due to QRN. It was almost impossinle to work on 160 m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DG4R Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,775,003 RIG: FT1k MkV + PA, Spiderbeam (15/20), HF2V (40/80) Sorry for many "nr?" requests. Lot of QRN up to over S9 caused by thunderstorms and heavy rain. But it was again a funny contest from a new QTH with new antennas. CONDX were much lower than last year. See you in the WWDX-SSB & CW with my other call DL1RG - 73s Gerald, DL1RG / DG4R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ1YFK Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 4,708,542 FT1000MP Mark V Field + ACOM 2000A TT Orion + HF-2500 2el 80m, 3el 40m, 4el SteppIR, OB9-5, TH5 on 3 towers. See: http://www.dj6zm.de/ Rather poor condx, lots of QRN and some unwanted offtime due to closeby thunderstorms. 461 QSOs (> 20%) were made on the 2nd radio. Once again, thanks to Toffy, DJ6ZM for hosting me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ3IW Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 61,614 TB-Wires ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ5MW Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 5,581,536 I didn´t plan to operate the full time, but activity was so good that I stayed in the chair. Also the workfree whit monday helped to convince me :-) 519 QSOs were made with the 2nd radio, although my 2nd radio´s antenna wasn´t a killer (KT34A @10m) But it was good enough to work the loud sporadic E stations obviously... Rig used: IC781, Alpha99, 4ele SteppIR @17m, XM240 @19m, 80m-Dipole @30m IC765, Alpha78, KT34A @10m See you in Fieldday contest next weekend! (DM1A/P) 73 de Manfred, DJ5MW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DJ6TK Class: SO(A)SB15 LP Total Score = 13,400 Hi, I worked only more than 3 hours because I had some visitors in my house. Vy 73 and moin moin from Flensburg, Wilf - dj6tk - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DK8EY Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 448,749 RIG: ICOM IC-7400, Heathkit SB-200, 5-ele Beam, 2x20m Doublett, Toshiba Tecra M4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DK9TN Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 2,781,744 QRN++ from heavy thunderstomrms around made it very difficult to hear on the low bands. Otherwise the long openings on 20m Saturday and Sunday evening were lots of fun! Thanks for all the QSOs. CU in IARU! 73 Chris DK9TN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL3EBX Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 134,028 No antennas (only a 20m long wire about 6-7m high) and poor conditions (really big local thunder storms the whole weekend). But as usual, I had fun. See u next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL3TD Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 5,241,744 Thunderstorm in Germany caused high QRN level all Saturday night. Excuse to all callers I did not copy. 73 Lothar, DL3TD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL3YM Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 4,565,112 This was a pretty demanding weekend. Designed as my first serious WPX-SO2R attempt I found myself struggling with a number of challenges over the weekend. Went off to a real bad start this year. QRN was horrible during the first night and I realized I was falling behind my fellow DL competitors the longer this night lasted. Couldn’t get anything going on 40 so tried 80. Funny thing is that most DX signals there made it easily over the QRN – yet no volume. 20 opened up late on Saturday and it took lots of repeats often to get calls and serials across when working weak DX signals. Was happy to have a limited JA run there and basically stayed on the band all day long with the run radio. Picked up a few stations on 10/15 with the second radio but didn’t even try to run there. As I was aware of my poor 40m performance I started to hit the band real hard around 1800. A pretty bad storm-front passed through directly over our QTH some 20 minutes later, forcing me to go QRT for another 3.5 hours – not a particularly fortunate situation to help improve figures on 40 … During the night I had big problems with the SO2R-setup switching radios randomly – probably RF getting into my keyboard. Besides the power supply of the L7 amp connected to the second radio started humming and arcing – not a good thing to improve my success rate on the second radio… Sunday finally things came into place. Conditions were much better and I enjoyed nice runs on 15 and the good opening on 20 to the US that others have mentioned also. Didn’t have any energy left to give 40 another try, so finished off my OP time on 20 and enjoyed a good red wine with DF2PY while starting to make plans on how to do better next time. Thanks to Wolf & family for being super hosts again and to my XYL & kids for tolerating (yet not understanding) why I need to do this to myself, hi. Thanks to DJ5MW, DJ1YFK and DL3TD for the good competition and mni congrats for great scores. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL4ME Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 372,624 TS850AT + ZZ750 PA, Spiderbeam, Dipoles for 160-40 The conditions on the higher bands were not badly, particularly on Sunday. On 160 and 80 here much QRN. I had big problems with a hanging relais on my PA. Thanks to all, with which I could work, among them 5 stations with 5-Band-QSO's: DR1A, LY7A, OM7M, RU1A and UK9CDV (no 6-Band-QSO). Ron (DL4ME) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL7BY Class: SOSB10 LP Total Score = 87,600 I had to make more brakes than plannend, because many thunderstorms crossed my qth. Best surprises were VP5 and NN3L as the only two stations from NA in the late Suturday evening. 73s es best dx Ben DL7BY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DL8MBS Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 429,273 For most of the time it felt as 20m was tired of being the workhorse contest after contest. It was even extremely difficult to reach nearby UA. As everything is bigger there, maybe even their QRN was louder than ours. But with qrp being a struggle by itself no complain at all - and it was rewarded sunday evening with a splendid shortskip/Es-opening on 15/10m: two hours that never felt like 5 W to lowwires. Being a lazy software user I discovered only a few days before the contest the N1MM-feature to reduce the sending speed for a single character in one´s own call. Taking two wpm away from the final "S" in my 13-dits-call decreased the error rate of the receiving stations very significantly. But nevertheless - the best readability and the most "punch" still comes with sending by paddle, hi. Thanks to many, many ops for their patient listening to name only a few like IK1QBT, C4W, RX3ZX or LY3M. Rig K2 - 5 W Provisional "antenna farm" for the weekend: - 2x10m doublet fed @ 10m with one arm horizontal and one vertical - 2x20m wire (one horizontal, one sloping close to ground, both combining at the window entrance @ 12 m to run 1 m parallel with spacers to the tuner) QRN and heavy rain made the idea unattractive to go in the yard, connect the low ends, short the upper feeder and use it as asymmetric 160m-shortdipole - but there will be a next time to tourture folks with the signal coming from it... All the best and 73, Chris (www.dl8mbs.de) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DP5X Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 14,220 Just putting out some QSOs with de DP5 Multiplier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DQ4Q Class: SO(A)SB15 HP Total Score = 825,840 thank u all for ur patience when i did not catch ur call at first time.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DR1A Class: M/M HP Total Score = 18,165,730 Thanks for all QSOs, and especially thanks for a good competition to OM7M. We have almost equal QSO numbers on the money bands 40 and 20 meters. We could run away with +253 QSOs with our high dipole on 80 meters, and with +123 QSOs on 15 meters, while OM7M could run 136 more Sporadic-E QSOs on 10 meters. I can second comments about 10 meters: LW9DA was definitely the loudest station from South America. We could also hear WP3C still very late at night, sometimes coming up to even S7 on the meter! Also W3RJ was heard very late. 73 Ben DL6FBL http://www.dr1a.com Here is some more statistics: 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total % EU 333 841 1014 1089 811 775 4863 69.4 NA 9 80 408 712 198 21 1428 20.4 SA 2 3 28 32 47 23 135 1.9 AS 5 24 71 228 79 60 467 6.7 AF 1 12 10 19 16 16 74 1.1 OC 0 2 11 18 8 2 41 0.6 Countries with more than 50 QSOs on all bands: 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total K 8 70 356 634 170 14 1252 DL 83 188 195 107 80 88 741 UA 20 74 108 154 109 119 584 UR 14 44 52 85 56 82 333 OK 33 67 79 66 52 22 319 UA9 12 37 113 36 34 232 SP 16 35 43 47 39 30 210 G 15 45 48 48 37 14 207 HA 8 22 45 46 28 28 177 I 6 21 41 41 31 23 163 PA 13 28 15 25 36 35 152 F 8 23 36 24 28 25 144 EA 2 17 17 41 30 36 143 S5 7 24 28 34 25 22 140 OM 19 23 26 27 21 19 135 YO 4 21 18 33 27 31 134 VE 1 8 42 60 20 2 133 YU 3 16 28 35 26 13 121 SM 9 22 26 30 17 5 109 LZ 1 13 20 23 18 25 100 OH 6 12 15 27 14 26 100 LY 12 18 17 20 15 17 99 YL 11 13 14 15 16 10 79 ON 3 22 14 6 13 16 74 JA 5 59 3 67 HB 7 12 20 16 5 5 65 9A 2 12 11 18 12 8 63 EU 4 11 13 10 12 13 63 PY 1 2 11 13 19 10 56 OE 3 6 16 14 6 8 53 QSO/Pref by hour and band: Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm D1-0000Z 45/36 104/78 81/68 19/15 --+-- --+-- 249/197 249/197 D1-0100Z 48/17 70/32 81/43 12/6 - - 211/98 460/295 D1-0200Z 31/9 60/29 59/25 11/4 - - 161/67 621/362 D1-0300Z 14/3 53/25 91/37 27/14 4/0 - 189/79 810/441 D1-0400Z 2/2 38/12 60/16 64/19 13/6 - 177/55 987/496 D1-0500Z - 28/9 55/14 79/15 62/12 53/8 277/58 1264/554 D1-0600Z - 8/0 52/14 80/12 64/11 62/7 266/44 1530/598 D1-0700Z - 5/3 58/9 74/27 42/6 37/6 216/51 1746/649 D1-0800Z --+-- --+-- 45/9 75/13 46/5 44/6 210/33 1956/682 D1-0900Z - - 26/5 63/11 47/6 35/4 171/26 2127/708 D1-1000Z - 3/1 26/5 61/13 60/7 30/1 180/27 2307/735 D1-1100Z - - 22/2 83/17 40/2 53/5 198/26 2505/761 D1-1200Z - 4/1 26/0 65/11 50/1 36/5 181/18 2686/779 D1-1300Z - 4/0 17/4 45/7 40/2 18/3 124/16 2810/795 D1-1400Z - - 15/1 59/13 23/6 25/4 122/24 2932/819 D1-1500Z - 3/0 16/1 60/8 34/6 28/5 141/20 3073/839 D1-1600Z --+-- 5/0 25/3 52/13 45/8 24/0 151/24 3224/863 D1-1700Z 2/0 5/0 18/1 63/9 31/2 50/4 169/16 3393/879 D1-1800Z 2/1 12/2 21/3 61/9 36/2 35/7 167/24 3560/903 D1-1900Z 7/0 22/0 31/2 58/8 31/2 21/3 170/15 3730/918 D1-2000Z 21/2 42/0 32/2 68/11 29/4 13/2 205/21 3935/939 D1-2100Z 10/1 36/1 32/2 58/17 10/3 14/0 160/24 4095/963 D1-2200Z 19/0 40/3 40/1 37/8 11/1 3/1 150/14 4245/977 D1-2300Z 14/0 49/2 34/2 49/11 - - 146/15 4391/992 D2-0000Z 13/0 33/1 42/3 16/3 --+-- --+-- 104/7 4495/999 D2-0100Z 7/1 32/0 57/6 11/1 - - 107/8 4602/1007 D2-0200Z 9/1 28/2 56/3 12/2 - - 105/8 4707/1015 D2-0300Z 6/0 33/3 48/7 19/1 - - 106/11 4813/1026 D2-0400Z - 16/3 35/5 17/3 12/0 - 80/11 4893/1037 D2-0500Z - 13/1 26/3 28/3 17/4 2/1 86/12 4979/1049 D2-0600Z - 9/1 34/1 22/2 34/1 11/0 110/5 5089/1054 D2-0700Z - 3/0 33/3 22/6 28/0 13/0 99/9 5188/1063 D2-0800Z --+-- 4/0 22/0 45/6 32/1 28/1 131/8 5319/1071 D2-0900Z - 4/0 20/2 34/4 35/2 29/2 122/10 5441/1081 D2-1000Z - 8/0 19/3 34/3 24/1 18/2 103/9 5544/1090 D2-1100Z - 3/0 18/2 23/2 19/0 14/1 77/5 5621/1095 D2-1200Z - 7/2 8/0 27/2 17/2 14/1 73/7 5694/1102 D2-1300Z - 2/0 11/0 41/7 26/1 14/2 94/10 5788/1112 D2-1400Z - - 15/2 34/6 37/2 25/1 111/11 5899/1123 D2-1500Z - - 12/1 29/4 36/1 31/1 108/7 6007/1130 D2-1600Z --+-- 7/0 16/0 41/6 44/2 30/5 138/13 6145/1143 D2-1700Z 3/0 9/1 13/0 45/8 26/4 34/2 130/15 6275/1158 D2-1800Z 2/0 9/1 14/2 56/6 21/1 37/0 139/10 6414/1168 D2-1900Z 10/0 22/0 20/0 57/7 12/1 9/0 130/8 6544/1176 D2-2000Z 24/1 29/1 19/1 49/6 15/2 1/0 137/11 6681/1187 D2-2100Z 23/0 46/2 14/0 43/7 7/0 3/1 136/10 6817/1197 D2-2200Z 27/1 34/3 17/0 46/6 - 3/1 127/11 6944/1208 D2-2300Z 11/0 20/0 11/0 25/4 - - 67/4 7011/1212 Total: 350/75 962/2191543/3132099/3961160/117 897/92 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DR4A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 5,070,850 For the first time in SW-Contesting we had to shut down the whole station because of a thunderstorm. It did cross our QTH from SW to NE overhead on Saturday but without any severe impact. The contest brought some indefinite conditions. US opended up very late on Saturday evening and the low bands did not perform as expected because of heavy QRN from the storms. So we couldn´t really deploy our new "weapons" (4 el. Array on 40m and 2 el. Array on 80m) which were supposed to collect a lot of 6P QSOs on these bands. On Sunday the weather and the conditions went better but 20m stayed our cash cow with 1st time more than 1.000 QSOs on one band. On sunday afternoon some Es did compensate us a bit on 10 and 15m for the other conditions. It was fun again, thanks to the team and cu agn 2008, Wolfgang DK9VZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: DR80AMA Class: M/S HP Total Score = 5,656,375 Hello to all WPX Contesters ! Many thanks to all for the QSOs ! First time with a special prefix in WPX for us and many OPs had problems to copy the call correctly even if we gave it 3 or 4 times. Please check your logs. It wasn´t DL80AMA, not DR80AQ, not DR80OMA etc... It is DR80AMA ! :-) This call is to celebrate 80 years of HAM RADIO in Germany and we hope you enjoyed QSO with us and the new prefix. We also had a lot of thunderstorms passing trough our area this weekend with a lot of rain and so the QRN level was very high. Especialy on the low bands. Sorry to those, we couldn´t pull out there. We had to go QRT for about 2 hours because of lightning direct above us. CONDX very bad the first day, but 2nd was much better and we enjoyed that 20m was open all night and nice E-skip on 10 and 15m the 2nd day. We had 2 new OP at Radio Taubeneiche Station for this one. Many thanks to JO, DJ4EY and Hein, DL2OBF for operating with us ! Also many thanks to Maik, DJ2QV for the travel to us once again and the help in setting up station and so on.... All in all we had a lot of fun at the station and enjoyed the contest. Congratulations to all the big scorers... We will operate the DR80AMA call until end of the year and so we hope to meet you soon again on the bands ! QSL via BURO to DK3DM, but please give me some time, because QSL cards are not printed yet ! Have a look to us and the station at: http://www.taubeneiche.de For the DR80AMA WPX-CW Team Heiko, DK3DM Equipment used: RUN: TS 850 + ACOM 2000A MULT: TS 850 + SB 1000 ANTs: Optibeam 16-3 up 24m (20-15-10) JP 2000 up 17m (20-15-10) Dipole up 16m (80-40) Delta Loop up 23m (40) Titanex vertical 27m long (160-80-40) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA1FAQ Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 3,020,094 I'm very happy with this score is my frist contest in the LP category. Good conditions on saturday to US on 10m (about 90 qso whit US stations on 10m). Ten remain open until 0UT. On sunday a realy good ES across EU on 10. The downside is 15m, i don't listen many US stations, perhaps i speend soo many time on 10m A lot of noise from tunderstroms all the weekend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA6FO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 5,534,100 Although the first option was to do a M/S as EA6IB together with Julio (EA3AIR), due to heavy electric problems at the very beginning, we decided to change the entry. The final option was that I would operate as EA6FO in SOAB HP category. Thanks for this nice experience to everybody who call! See you in next contest! 73's de Roger, EA3ALZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EA7TN Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 2,492,100 Kenwood TS-2000 , 90W Spiderbeam 10-15-20 @ 18m Inv. V dipoles 40-80 @ 16m ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EC2DX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 7,479,296 Very bad weather and QRN on our side. We should have spent more time on 40m to improve our score. Anyway, we enjoyed very much the weekend. Thank´s everybody for the calls and also to EB2BXL for his QTH. Antennas used: 10m,15m, 20m: Explorer 14 & TH3 Tribanders 40m: Dipole EA5BRE 80m: Vertical Fullsize See you on the next one! 73! EC2DX Contest team. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EE8A Class: M/S HP Total Score = 16,577,510 http://dxfun.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1538 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: EG7IX Class: SOAB(TS) LP Total Score = 2,535,643 Got this callsign due celebration of 25th aniversary of UK Six Meters Group. Station is not ok, tower is down with my tribander just 1 meter above the roof and no dipoles for low bands. QSL card via PA7FM Thanks for all the QSOs 73s, Nino EA7RM (EG7IX till 10 June) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ES5Q Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 12,215,004 Great ES on 10m, would have never expected so high QSO count there. A lot of QRN on all bands, we were almost struck by lightening as major storm moved right over us and we had to shut down the whole station for a while. Congratulations to OM8A, fabulous score and by no means achievable from our location with those conditions. Look forward to see how our close by competitors RU1A did. ES5Q By band - CW QSOs (without dupes) - By time ! Hr ! 160 ! 80 ! 40 ! 20 ! 15 ! 10 ! Total ! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ! 00 ! 13 ! 103 ! 82 ! ! ! ! 198 ! ! 01 ! 9 ! 83 ! 79 ! ! ! ! 171 ! ! 02 ! ! 24 ! 77 ! 47 ! ! ! 148 ! ! 03 ! ! 12 ! 85 ! 49 ! ! ! 146 ! ! 04 ! ! 1 ! 67 ! 56 ! ! ! 124 ! ! 05 ! ! 6 ! 33 ! 73 ! 18 ! ! 130 ! ! 06 ! ! ! 10 ! 85 ! 76 ! ! 171 ! ! 07 ! ! ! 13 ! 83 ! ! 69 ! 165 ! ! 08 ! ! ! 10 ! 73 ! 43 ! 3 ! 129 ! ! 09 ! ! ! ! 50 ! 49 ! 1 ! 100 ! ! 10 ! ! ! 3 ! 8 ! 77 ! 62 ! 150 ! ! 11 ! ! ! ! 84 ! 82 ! 1 ! 167 ! ! 12 ! ! ! 1 ! 100 ! 42 ! 32 ! 175 ! ! 13 ! ! ! ! 95 ! 68 ! 9 ! 172 ! ! 14 ! ! ! 4 ! 77 ! 64 ! 4 ! 149 ! ! 15 ! ! ! 29 ! 59 ! 2 ! ! 90 ! ! 16 ! ! ! 7 ! 27 ! 38 ! 33 ! 105 ! ! 17 ! ! ! 3 ! 13 ! 23 ! 75 ! 114 ! ! 18 ! ! 11 ! 66 ! ! ! 80 ! 157 ! ! 19 ! 1 ! 4 ! 34 ! 27 ! 4 ! 73 ! 143 ! ! 20 ! ! 16 ! 6 ! 73 ! 22 ! 22 ! 139 ! ! 21 ! 1 ! 45 ! 2 ! 58 ! 7 ! ! 113 ! ! 22 ! 30 ! 17 ! 13 ! 66 ! ! ! 126 ! ! 23 ! 25 ! 7 ! 6 ! 53 ! ! ! 91 ! ! 00 ! ! 11 ! 51 ! 24 ! ! ! 86 ! ! 01 ! ! 15 ! 46 ! 36 ! ! ! 97 ! ! 02 ! ! ! 52 ! 14 ! 1 ! ! 67 ! ! 03 ! ! 11 ! 35 ! 24 ! ! ! 70 ! ! 04 ! ! 8 ! 41 ! 37 ! ! ! 86 ! ! 05 ! ! 2 ! 55 ! 16 ! 7 ! 9 ! 89 ! ! 06 ! ! ! 33 ! 8 ! 26 ! 22 ! 89 ! ! 07 ! ! ! 3 ! 54 ! 65 ! 4 ! 126 ! ! 08 ! ! ! 4 ! 54 ! 73 ! 2 ! 133 ! ! 09 ! ! ! 6 ! 9 ! 61 ! 75 ! 151 ! ! 10 ! ! ! 2 ! 7 ! 46 ! 74 ! 129 ! ! 11 ! ! ! ! 35 ! 56 ! 26 ! 117 ! ! 12 ! ! ! ! 57 ! 12 ! 11 ! 80 ! ! 13 ! ! ! ! 71 ! 12 ! 7 ! 90 ! ! 14 ! ! ! 1 ! 48 ! 25 ! 2 ! 76 ! ! 15 ! ! ! ! 43 ! 33 ! 5 ! 81 ! ! 16 ! ! ! 6 ! 49 ! 19 ! 5 ! 79 ! ! 17 ! ! ! 1 ! 49 ! 1 ! 44 ! 95 ! ! 18 ! ! 3 ! 38 ! 6 ! 8 ! 21 ! 76 ! ! 19 ! ! 17 ! 32 ! 8 ! ! ! 57 ! ! 20 ! 2 ! 46 ! 19 ! 7 ! ! ! 74 ! ! 21 ! ! 56 ! 39 ! 3 ! ! ! 98 ! ! 22 ! ! 23 ! 34 ! 10 ! ! ! 67 ! ! 23 ! 16 ! 11 ! 41 ! 2 ! ! ! 70 ! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ! ! 97 ! 532 ! 1169 ! 1927 ! 1060 ! 771 ! 5556 ! ES5Q - Continents By band - CW QSOs (with dupes) ! Band ! EU ! NA ! SA ! AF ! AS ! OC ! -------------------------------------------------------------- ! 160 ! 93.9% ! ! ! ! 6.1% ! ! ! 80 ! 92.4% ! 0.9% ! 0.4% ! 1.7% ! 4.4% ! 0.2% ! ! 40 ! 68.2% ! 17.0% ! 3.1% ! 0.9% ! 9.8% ! 1.0% ! ! 20 ! 58.7% ! 24.0% ! 1.8% ! 1.0% ! 13.5% ! 1.0% ! ! 15 ! 91.6% ! 0.5% ! 1.6% ! 1.7% ! 4.3% ! 0.3% ! ! 10 ! 93.1% ! ! 1.8% ! 0.9% ! 4.2% ! ! -------------------------------------------------------------- Powered by Win-Test 3.11.0 http://www.win-test.com 73 Tonno ES5TV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: ES6DO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 719,304 It was semi-serious effort this time. Friday I had only 80 m inverted vee up. It's take only 1-2 hours to cut some more pieces of wire and put up sloping dipoles for 10, 20 and 40 m. No more space in garden. Thanks to all who called. Terrible QRN both days on 80 and 40 m. Nice E sporadic on 10 m. Radio: ICOM 756 Amp: 1 kW out Antennas : approx 1,5 Kg wire Soft: CT10 73s and cul next contest Neil ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F5IN Class: SO(A)SB10 HP Total Score = 239,844 Powered by Win-Test 3.11.0 http://www.win-test.com http://perso.wanadoo.fr/f5in ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F6CNM Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 101,136 73 from Brittany. Jef ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: F8CRS Class: SOAB(R) LP Total Score = 449,880 HI, using FT-1KMP markV--100w--Vertical home made. soft: WINTEST 3.11 Better propagation during sunday afternoon than saturady.But windy ,rainy,lights..... tnx to all. 73's F8CRS david ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G3TXF Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 2,612,564 Operated part-time from home station. The WPX Contest is a fun contest with easy QSOs to made across the bands, but with the added spice of the many special prefixes that pop up for the occasion. Both 10m and 15m provided a few surprise QSOs, but the bulk of the QSO volumes were 20m and 40m. Antennas : A 20-year-old KT34 tri-bander at 19m for 20-15-10m. Rotary dipole for 40m at 21m high. Wire dipole for 80m with centre 18m high. Rig : FT-1k-MP and Quadra Amp Software : Used Win-Test for the first time in a major contest. Win-Test really added to the fun of operating WPX-CW this weekend. Win-Test is an excellent contest program. [It's designed for contesters who grew up with CT and who have been CT fans for years!] 73 - Nigel G3TXF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G3WW Class: SOSB10 QRP Total Score = 9,153 Due to commitments, only operated on the Saturday so half a contest for me. However, 10m was open for at least 12 hours on the first day with good sporadic-e around Europe. Even managed the odd QSO's outside of EU. Thanks to all who pulled my QRP signal out of the noise. IC-7000, 3 Watts, Log Peiodic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G3YMC Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 108,243 Conditions pretty lousy but good sporadic E on 10m and 15m. Static levels too high on the lower bands. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G4IIY Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 1,015,550 FT1000MP, plus linear (400W) 3el beam, plus verticals for 40/80m Logging - N1MM Great to hear 10m open, albeit very short skip. Only worked a couple of EA8s, otherwise EU. A part-time entry fitted around family commitments and practice for National Field Day on 2/3 June. Ian G4IIY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: G6PZ Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 5,033,994 I'll do a more sensible write up when I get some sleep. Paul only decided he was able to do the contest from G6PZ on Friday and was looking for operators. I decided operating from G6PZ would be more fun than just playing from home with 100 Watts and a high doublet. About 30 minutes before the contest started, I 'persuaded' Paul that 2 of us wouldn't be competitive as a multi-single especially as he had family commitments. Decided to go assisted because its the right level for dorks like me. When you can't get a run going, just point and click easy cluster spots, saves the time and effort needed for real S&P. Single Op in this contest is easy - with the 36 hour limit there's plenty of time to sleep. G6PZ is in the middle of an antenna upgrade. The new 4 over 4 SteppIR stack ROCKS on the high bands. I always felt loud. Every pileup was easy to break. Whether picking up Sporadic E QSOs from other parts of Europe or running into the states, it seemed only necessary to send your callsign a few times for a pileup to emerge. Of course, as an ordinary G station, no-one sticks around if they don't work you quickly! Managed to work both Japan and California on 15, which I did not expect with a SFI of 68 and a woeful A index. On 20, the stack kicked serious ass into the Western USA in our late evening. In fact, I didn't even realise how poor conditions were until I did a SH/WWV on Sunday evening. The downside was that we are currently limited to a sloper on 40. It worked, but not the way the old 402CD did and or future antenna projects here will. 80 was really tough with the summer QRN. Heard a lot of US stations calling me that I just couldn't pull through the noise. Sorry. Contesting is supposed to be fun. This was lots of fun. Thanks to everyone who called in for making it that way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: GM4FDM Class: SOSB10 HP Total Score = 17,976 When I found 10m open on the Saturday my right hand got twitchy and I found myself giving out numbers. Conditions wernt that great and there was a lot of QSB on some signals, in fact some stations came and went in the time it took to make the QSO, so I guess I will loose a few Qs as I had difficulty with the numbers going down into the noise at times never to re-appear. I listed myself as high power but due to TVI only used about 150 watts for the duration. Sunday conditions were poorer with stronger QSB. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: H2E Class: SOSB20 LP Total Score = 737,544 73's to all ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HA5UX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,239,510 I have to looking for a better contest program than MixW. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HA6FQ Class: SOSB80 LP Total Score = 269,235 Should on several occasions may not be fed up with on account of the storms I to switch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HB9CVQ Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 2,258,837 SOAPBOX: Very strong QRN in HB9, thunder-storms all over HB9/central-southern EU for WPXCW07 weekend. Time lost due to lightning protection by stn shutdown. Nice openings however on 10m. Otherwise mostly poor HF condx. Good test opportunity e.g. on superb 40m performance of my new ORION 2. Also harsh, successful endurance test for my ACOM 2k-A, 3el Yagi / 2x25m DP. Complaint: Unhappy event of unfair unsportsmanship / operating by HG1A on 40m 7004.4 kHz in the last contest hour. I was long time on the QRG before HG1A started QRMing. Interference was only about 120 Hz away from my QRG (cluster). HG1A causing obviously willingful interference for over 45 min, trying to push me off QRG. Several times informing HG1A about this misconduct only caused a reaction of HG1A final QSY, 45min later, after threatening him with reporting and potential consequences of "disqualification". This should not happen in any contest! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HB9DDO Class: SO(A)SB20 HP Total Score = 1,003,116 With some family obligations on saturday I could only enter this years WPX in the middle. I decided to stick to 20m this time. Condx were not very good as expected. But I had my usual share of fun and hope to meet all of you again in the next years. vy 73, Stephan, HB9DDO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HC8N Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 12,940,200 Strange but tranquil doing this solo - usually there are some more ops around. I think everyone would be happy to see a few more sun spots. Thanks for the Q's. 73, Steve K6AW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HG6N Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 9,286,968 Some of our friends visited HG6N from Z37M and HG1Z. Hope they liked it in spite of continuous fighting with QRN. "Rakia" connecting people! 73! Anti HA3OV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HG8K Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 1,526,840 Qrn...storms....TVI...etc Rig: IC-781 Pa: SB-220 only on 40 & 80m Ant: Dipoles, 3el triband yagi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HK1X Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 3,101,524 WAS OUT ARROUND A YEAR. NICE EXPERIENCE AGAIN, MY STATION SIMPLE STEPPIR 3 ELEMENTS, TL-922 AND VERY BEAUTIFUL IC 775 DSP WITH FILTERS. MANY THANKS FOR ALL PEOPLE WORK ME ON THE BAND. 73S SEE IN NEW CONTEST PEDRO HK1X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HL1VAU Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 36,652 Enjoyable CW contest during Saturday evening.. This year, I had no enough time for full time competition.. Naturally, the goal changed to hunt my new one and as much as contact with Zone 8,9.. Finally, My OCF Dipole and barefoot missed PJ2T, ZF1A and many more West Indies over the pole on 40/20m.. I could hear them nicely but the signal never reached on door.. :-( Propagation is still remain on darkside but wish more better and big signals next year.. Thanks to all callers when I running CQ TEST.. CU in All Asian DX CW and other excitements..! 73 & DX de Rocky Han, HL1VAU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: HZ1EX Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 7,018,543 Great contest, big thanks to: HZ1GW/GW0RHC, Ken for hosting me and the use of his MonstIR beam 7Z1UG/DK2UG, Manfred for lending me his 2nd radio HZ1IK/DF1IK, Manfred for lending me his Bencher and other stuff All participants that found the way into my log. The propagation that made 10m open Highlights: The contact with AB1HZ - The Ex. HZ1AB Member's Club. QSO:s with friends like: SM0BYD, SM0W, PY2NY and big bunch of those I had the pleasure to meet at WRTC2006 in Florianopolis, Brazil. Thomas HZ1EX, PY2ZXU, SM0CXU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: I2WIJ Class: SOAB(TS) LP Total Score = 1,194,963 What a week-end! Spent whole saturday on visit my parents, gardening at the country house (grass cutting, fertilizing, watering system setup and testing, strawberries and cherries harvesting, plus a 2 hour car journey), slept 4 full hours saturday night completely exhausted, went with my son to his swimming competition and got a pizza with the whole team and athlete's parents on sunday evening, ....and had a lot of fun on radio! What a surprise the shining 10M (worked K3OO at 2230Z!!!) and huge EU pileup; super 20M with good US pileup at-times and 40M as well. This is the ideal contest for SO2R, but my setup is still on paper: I know it is my best opportunity for improving score and fun! 73. Bob, I2WIJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: II7M Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 2,761,955 Usual setup: FT1000MP+TL922+Yagi 4el.@20m in a small town [ TVI complaints always ready to start with the contest.. :-) ] Sunday evening and night more fun with the U.S.A. than the first, despite the QRN that often forced me to ask two or three time the numbers. Many thanks to everyone for the big fun. Art, IK7JWY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IO3N Class: SOSB80 HP Total Score = 155,870 Qrt the second day because stormy weather, cu .. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IQ3UD Class: SOSB80 LP Total Score = 54,670 Qrt the second day for lightnings. Most ugly conditions cu 73 de IQ3UD ( IV3ZXQ ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IS0N Class: SOAB(TS) LP Total Score = 2,743,336 This contest was my third from IS0. I placed my station on the top of the hill in northern Sardinia. It is beautiful place with 360 deg. open view. The price for this ideal place it is that I must use the generator and that there are VERY strong winds (sometimes up to 200 km/h). I used guy-ropes Mastrant for the first time with great satisfaction. I operated from my van, like many times before. It was the first time I was real SO2R and I am very excited with this style, including excellent interface microHAM MK2R+, which I use – it is really invincible. I see how much I have to improve! I enjoyed the entire contest, although the propagation on 15/10 was bad. Thanks to Mauro K7QB and my father for help to put up my antennas! CU next time! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IT9/S52A Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 2,470,132 Rig: TS-850S, 500W Amplifier Ant: TH3-JR, GP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IU3X Class: SOSB15 HP Total Score = 327,964 QRN, RAIN and STORM !!!! Saturday all time storm and qrn , strong wind damage my antenna at 18.00z and decide to qrt after 11 hours only . see next year Andrea IV3SKB one on IH9P team http//www.ih9p.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: IU9S Class: SOSB10 HP Total Score = 690,706 A lot of big fun on 10 meters after a very long time !! Es to central Europe was really good; some incredible QSOs with USA during saturday night; just a couple of JAs in log. I had to leave the contest for about four hours long, just in the middle of a UFB run, to join my youngest daughter's final dance display. I'm sure that it will hardly settle the final result :-( A lot of strong QRN on sunday afternoon/evening because big thunderstorms: sorry for asking a lot of people to repeat my numbers. See you on next one! Joe, IT9BLB one of IH9P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: JA8RWU Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,225,365 Despite of the not-so-good condx we enjoyed part time effort and maybe main effort for several BBQs as meal :-) Nice WX and more operators than usual for the last one year or more made BBQs a pleasant party. Hope to do it for a FULL time effort(contest!) maybe next time. CU all in IARU as JA8RWU this year not 8N8HQ(2005,2006)this time.. 73's Akira, JA8RWU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: JW/OZ7BQ Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 241,732 A great experience to work from the high arctic region. I had the opportunity to use the JW5E station. Band conditions very difficult at times with the K index mostly above 5. Heard several pacific stations on 40 in the mornings, but could not get through. 15 meters only usable for a short while, so 20 meters had to carry the load. Several good runs to JA and W/VE, but band droped almost dead several times. With 24 hours day-light 80 meters never opened and Svalbard seems to be too far north to use sporadic-E on 10 meters. Besides the arctic nature was as much an enjoyment as ham radio. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0CF Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 133,865 Icom IC-756ProIII barefoot with GAP Titan DX all-band vertical antenna. Logging with WriteLog 10.62H. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PK Class: SOAB(TS) LP Total Score = 627,676 This was my first all-band single op contest and first CW WPX. Had a great time! Conditions to Europe on 20m were poor on Saturday, much better on Sunday. Passing storms and precip. static on the beam made for difficult receive conditions at times. 40m from here to Europe wasn't as productive as I had hoped....too much local QRN. At this point in the solar cycle it's not easy to work the high-value mults. from the "black hole" of northern Minnesota so I had to settle for a disproportionate number of domestic QSOs which kept the score relatively low. Thanks to everyone for all the QSOs and especially to W0BH and NQ4I for six-band "sweeps." Station setup: FT-2000, TS-940S, Telrex TB5EM & wires. 73 - Paul, K0PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RC Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 674,685 NQ4I was my first contact and was the only station I worked on 5 bands (missed 160 for the sweep). Propagation over the weekend was "fickle". I would call loud stations and they would not hear me (500 Watts) and then I would return 20 minutes later and get an answer on the first call. I operated this contest all S&P except for a half hour run on Sunday afternoon on 20m. There were some "crazy" callsigns this year. I thought I was writing a book! A good time was had by all (me). 73 de Bob - K0RC in MN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0XP Class: SOSB80 LP Total Score = 226,653 SO-LP 80m only. Frustrating to hear so many Europeans for 2 hours before I could work them Sat and Sun nights. CNDX seemed fair; only had QRN Sunday night. A number of ZLs showed up the second morning but couldn't find a single VK; guess they were all resting up for their Trans-Tasmania contest ;o| Great to work so many folks in the beginning of summer at the bottom of the cycle on 80. Rig: TS-680S, 85W Antler: 80 Inv Vee at 51 ft. (15.5 m) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1KI Class: SOSB40 HP Total Score = 800,876 Lots of fun the first five hours. Just didn't feel like slugging it out for the other 30+ hours... Never did work another K1... 73 Tom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2RD Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 52,000 Checking out new FT-2000 and N1MM in first contest. Results promising!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2SX Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 1,253,868 First contest from new QTH in SC. Sure is different condx here in the south. The antenna stayed the same with the Butternut vertical in the woods behind the house. Learned a lot about what needs to be done but some sunspots would cure most of those ills. Add a big tower and things wud be real good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2TA Class: SOSB40 QRP Total Score = 120,360 Fun contest! Special thanks to Sasha 4N1FG who really made an extra effort to complete a QSO with my 5W but we just couldn't get it 100%. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3JT Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 295,240 Casual operation, but had fun. I need a 40M antenna. Fun working ZL and 6W on 10 M and also working EU on 80M. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 5,911,002 My quest to win CQWPXCW SOA continues..so far I can confirm it is the most difficult of all the multiband categories to win. (I have not tried M/2 yet) 832 1 pointers 631 6 pointers. No strategy except to try to get in a full 36 hours and be awake for a Sunday evening family wedding. Slept 3 hours night 1, 4 hours night 2 and QRT at 1900Z, 5 hours sooner than I would normally have finished. I had to be on 20 during some fairly slow hours that I would have saved for late Sunday afternoon. Realistically I would have left a 1 hr T storm buffer in that 5 hour stretch and might have needed it. It went better than I expected, I got home around 1 pm still awake. I lost my ability to post my score real time, like everything else, I blame it on a windows "update". I will get it fixed. You definitely could see time strategies on the scoreboard, which could influence operating tactics..but still it is fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BK Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 175,266 Rig: Collins S-Line @ 100 Watts and Vibroplex bug that has trouble sending CW late at night. Antennas: 5 band vertical and Inverted Vee used on 80 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: SOAB(TS) LP Total Score = 134,532 Great contest - a veritable "free-for-all"! It's really amazing what a piece of wire, strategically located, can do. Tower and monobanders coming though. Breakdown of scoring: Band QSOS POINTS MULT 160 0 0 0 80 28 51 27 40 113 287 86 20 122 227 71 15 56 94 18 10 4 7 0 TOTALS 323 666 202 Drake C-Line <=100 watts output Antennas: All wire dipoles and a Hustler 5BTV Vertical Logging software: N3FJP On-Air Time: 25 hrs 8 min ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 2,844,100 WPX CW 2007 was surprisingly good fun, despite the disturbed conditions. My opening hour of 147 QSOs was a personal best. I didn't even have rate like that from VQ5V in 2004 WPX CW. Of course it only lasted an hour. But what an hour it was! The second hour I had to fix a crashed server -- while still operating the contest! That was a very interesting time, with some serious multi-task window-swapping happening. The first 24 hours were mainly a domestic contest from here. There was little DX propagation the first day, but conditions improved as the contest went on. The low bands were very noisy, with thunderstorms from Texas to Minnesota crashing away. The Beverage antennas got a real work out on 40 meters. All of the incremental station improvements I've made over the years are really starting to pay off. I made several more pre-contest improvements as usual. One of the joys of making station improvements for a particular contest, is that I get to enjoy those improvements for years afterwards. I'm still having problems with SO2R QRM when transmitting on 40 meters. I seriously need to get that cleaned up. Still using old analog radios and Mosley trapped antennas, plus a trapped 4BTV vertical. My only 40 meter beam is a two-element wire yagi fixed on Europe. Yes, I am living in the past, and still having a blast! :-) Congrats to the big scorers. Thanks to everyone for the QSOs! 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 1,212,492 One of my Alpha 87a amplifiers is back at the factory for some TLC so I decided to simplify my life and enter the Low Power category. My plan was to apply some of the SO2R advice I received at the Contest University. Seems to have been helpful as I managed to make about 10 percent of my QSOs on the second radio. I still need to practice, but the advice definitely helped. One of my Orion XCVRs just returned from the Ten-Tec factory on Thursday before the contest. It was in for a filter capacitor replacement and general preventive maintenance. The guys at Ten-Tec really did a great job. In fact, I had to be extremely careful not to accidentally nudge up too close to someone when I had the filter set for narrow. If the signal wasn't in the passband, I just didn't hear it. I'm sure I probably irritated a few contestors by getting too close. During the contest if I became aware of a problem that I was causing, I tried to slide or QSY. My apologies to anyone I may have inadvertantly offended. 73, Rick K4TD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5ER Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 6,380 First, I'm not really a CW op. Had just a few hours to spare between yard work and grilling, and still being pumped from Contest University at Dayton(Thanks K3LR, all the instructors and sponsors), I decided to give out a few contacts. Everyone seemed FAST at first, but it got much easier as time went on. I just might learn to enjoy these CW contests! Thanks to the contest sponsors, everyone I worked, and the new friends I made at CTU/Dayton. 73, Mark, K5ER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KA Class: SOSB40 HP Total Score = 321,464 Tough to hear DX with storms this time of year. 73, Ken K5KA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 94,786 Its all relative... Relative to this year's CQ WPX SSB contest, this weekend had better conditions, especially on 40 meters. Friday night started off fairly well on 20 and 40. 20 never opened to Europe or Japan for me. I think I made a smart move by getting some sleep from 10PM to 3AM last night, and got up at 3AM to work 40 and 80. I bested my SSB QSO count by about 30. But - relative to last years contest where I just poached DX (didnt enter and didn't work USA), this weekend was a disappointment. I think last year's CQ WPX I worked 2 new countries, and about 20 band fills for 20m. This year - no new countries, and only ZF1A for a new one on 80. This extension of the time for the sunspot low is starting to get depressing! Thanks to EF8M and HC8N for their dxpeditions. It is always a thrill to work them. Traditional Prefixes I missed: N8, N9, W2, most of the WA's and WB's . Callsigns not to confuse: KZ5D and KZ6D Sad sight to see/hear: 6H1CT and 6F75A unintentionally QRMing each other by calling CQ on EXACTLY the same freq! I told them QRM and one moved. Station: FT-990 100W Ant: Full length 80 m dipole sloping down from 50' 40 meter inverted vee at 50' Alpha Delta DX-CC dipole at 20' (for 20m) Software: N3FJP - worked well ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6JEB Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 103,490 Comments: It wasn't until about ten minutes after this one started that I even realized I wanted to make a few contacts. I opened Writelog, got the message bufferes ready, and sat down to see how I would fare for a few before I got to other things. The YL had us slated for the festival in Boulder Creek on Sunday, so I wasn't about to get too serious about a contest this weekend (I'm saving those tokens for later this season). Using my Butternut HF6V on the roof and a shortened (82') dipole for 160m at about twenty-five feet, I managed to get the ear of most stations I could hear, but I just couldn't grab a frequency for very long, and even when I did, it nary brought in more than three or four QSOs. I enjoy this contest because of the plethora of multipliers. The length of the event is also a good test of operator endurance. I wound up logging about 24 hours of time on for this one. When I stopped, I had surpassed my eventual 'goal' of 200 QSOs. I kept going after 200 since I wanted a few 'insurance' points . . . you know how that goes, before long I had hit 300. Murphy struck during the daytime: for some reason, my antenna develops a high SWR suddenly. At night this isn't an issue. I suspect a damaged capacitor on the Butternut that only shows up when the day winds/breezes bend it far enough. I tuned-up the 160m dipole to get past this issue which seems mostly confined to 20m. Time to get that A3S put together and up. Would it be helpful to others to have a set of 'boilerplate' messages for at least the CW/RTTY messages in Writelog posted on the club site? I know that eventually during a contest there develops an accepted format, but I think it might be nice to have them ready ahead of time, and it really helps when everyone essentially sends the same sequence, for sure during QRM/QRN. We left for Boulder Creek around 9am this morning. Pretty mushy bands still at that hour. How was the home stretch of this contest? Were there any rare ones that showed up? 73 de K6JEB Jack ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LRN Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 225,036 C'mon sunspots!! I'm ready!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6OWL Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 19,656 Warming-up before heading off to participate Sunday at W6YX. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6RIM Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 265,248 Part-time effort due to relatively crummy conditions, family stuff and gardening. We need more sunspots! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 35,000 El Stinko Propagation ;-( ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7HBN Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 62,370 Let's see, flux 67-68, A=16-17, K=2-4, but mostly 3-4, 5 watts, reasonable but not great antennas plus coming down with a cold made for a fun contest. I am able to confirm there are still some very good ears around. Thanks for all. K7HBN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7LAZ Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 376,596 You heard all the whining (just need the cheese)> New amp thought all was cool until last 2 hours of the contest and the famous knock on the door.... I was aimed east right down the TIVO DISH on Indy Car Sunday...Same guy with the TWO motion lights now...(any ideas short of MOVING?) EU was hard for me to work....New AMP seemed to have the poop but bands were just tuff I guess,My First WPX so had some stateside action anyway... N1MM, TS 870, ACOM 1000, SteppIR 3 ELE with 40 mtr add on and 80 MTR SteppIr vertical. Re arranged the whole shack right in middle of contest and then tore it all down when I was done. Must have been rummy.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7WP Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 865,896 Thank for the Qs...great time. New tower and 6BA sure made things easier over the vertical sof the past few years! 73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8GL Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 872,673 Poor conditions to Asia. Much QRN on the low bands with the local storm activity. Thanks to everyone for the contacts! Greg K8GL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IA Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 1,322,666 Ten-Tec Orion II, Alpha 91B, 3 el SteppIR at 78' CU all in IARU Contest in July! 73, Bob K8IA Arizona USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: SOAB(TS)(R) HP Total Score = 81,090 I got on for the last two hours. Fortunately 20 was still open to Europe, so I had some nice runs. Nice Es signals on 15 from VO1HE and W0BH, perhaps a good omen for the VHF contest in 2 weeks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MUG Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 928,400 I had only planned to work 40M, but conditions weren't great, and the northeastern 4 element tree beam wasn't quite right,so I worked a little 20 and 15. I had QSO's with quite a few of the RTTY regulars-- thanks guys. Even though the big beam wasn't quite right, VK6HD came through nicely long path on 40. All in all, it was fun. Back trouble still curtailng the effort, however. 73 to all, Darrell ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: SOSB80 HP Total Score = 128,640 I was drinking margaritas in ZF2 when the contest started! Arrived back home late Saturday afternoon and first QSO was around 0230z. QRN was manageable and signals seemed decent on 80 so I stayed there and called CQ. Thanks for the QSOs! 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA1ARB Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 14,499 First contest with my new (to me) TS-850 radio. Note to self - don't play in CW contests without CW filters! Much more fun once I put them in. I set a goal of 100 Q's as I keep practicing my code skills, and I had a great time. Thanks for all the contacts! 73, Rob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA3DRR Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 1,512 Fun contest that challenged my operating skills. Working FO/N6JA (20 mtrs), ZM1A (20 mtrs), 6I2MX (40 mtrs), and NT5C (20 & 40 mtrs) scored as 'best moments' and KH6LC on three bands. Best results to everyone and 73 till next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC3R Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 5,934,937 Much slower than last year, only had a couple of hours above 100. Didn't bother to check the forecast before the contest and was awarded with a nice T-storm on Saturday exactly when the rate to EU started climbing up. Initially tried to play tough but at some point I got enough material to do a detailed analysis on timing distribution of atmospheric crashes. Following some undiscovered yet law, they all seem to occur on the same letter/number they did on the previous refill. During the time off listened to the local forecast on the radio. They promised even more T-storms on Sunday and I had only 4 hours off time left and more than 24 hours to go. Luckily, whoever did the forecast didn't graduate from my department, so we ended up with absolutely no rain/shower or other atmospheric dirty tricks on Sunday and I got full 36 hours. Other than that, conditions were not that bad compared to last year. The major difference was 15. It never actually opened to US here but was somewhat open to EU. The opening was kinda filtered - there were only loud stations and there were quite loud. DR1A was +40 at some point here. All of them had problems hearing US though. I managed to work about half of them, the other half either gave up on my number or simply didn't hear me at all. P33W was workable on 10 for about 15 minutes here but was too busy running Europe. Congrats to K1TO for the great score from down there where even the aligators wear sweaming suits (no speedo's, remember !). My sincere thanks to Jim, WA3FET for letting me operate his station again. See you all in IARU and some of you in what some prefer to call "not a contest" in June ! 73, Alex LZ4AX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 123,088 This event is such fun, even without sunspots. 20M to EU was pretty awful much of the time yet I managed to work a few VKs near midnight local time on Saturday. Go figure. Not too much on 15m but it wasn't dead either and there was even some life to 10M on Saturday. Didn't hear anybody on 160m. I had planned to run QRP but the poor solar forecast and some early QRP attempts convinced me that going LP would be a lot more fun. This was a part-time effort for me but I was able to grab an hour here, two hours there, and I ended up with 15 or so hours. Sunday was a bit slow although I managed to get a few good runs early in the day which was fun. The appearance of some very strong local QRN Sunday afternoon made the last hours tough going. I was happy to beat my personal goals and nearly doubled my QSO total from last year. Still seems that everybody had higher numbers but I guess that's life with a simple wire antenna. Be nice to almost double again next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD4D Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 10,581,383 What a difference between this year and last year! Last year, 5027 QSO's, including 2223 on 20 and 1195 on 15. For me, the highlight of the contest was the great conditions on 80 Friday night! We had 232 QSO's on 80 last year and 480 this year. We went to 80 early and it was quiet and open to Europe. We worked 132 Europeans on 80. We had a great group again at N3HBX's new station. Nothing broke! :-) We did lose the most of the last two hours when power failed at the house. It came back on a few minutes before the end but we didn't get back on the air. There were a lot of slow hours fighting for QSO's on 15 meters, especially Sunday. We worked hard to maximize our three and six point QSO's into Europe and it shows in the points/qso. We are looking forward to working this contest when the sunspots come back! Continent Statistics KD4D CQ WORLD WIDE PREFIX CONTEST Multi Two 27 May 2007 2214z 160 80 40 20 15 10 ALL percent CW North America CW 49 332 565 800 333 13 2092 51.5 South America CW 1 9 24 31 49 14 128 3.2 Europe CW 0 132 499 838 169 2 1640 40.4 Asia CW 0 2 19 60 5 0 86 2.1 Africa CW 0 8 18 15 13 0 54 1.3 Oceania CW 0 5 38 15 2 0 60 1.5 BREAKDOWN QSO/mults KD4D CQ WORLD WIDE PREFIX CONTEST Multi Two HOUR 160 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT 0 ..... 7/5 106/82 102/66 ..... ..... 215/153 215/153 1 . 59/34 109/68 . . . 168/102 383/255 2 . 55/29 82/43 . . . 137/72 520/327 3 . 64/20 77/28 . . . 141/48 661/375 4 . 63/28 70/24 . . . 133/52 794/427 5 . 38/11 64/25 4/4 . . 106/40 900/467 6 14/3 21/3 32/8 . . . 67/14 967/481 7 7/0 15/6 30/11 . . . 52/17 1019/498 8 4/0 7/0 18/6 2/1 ..... ..... 31/7 1050/505 9 1/0 7/0 17/8 5/0 . . 30/8 1080/513 10 . 1/0 26/8 38/16 . . 65/24 1145/537 11 . . 24/5 77/23 5/0 . 106/28 1251/565 12 . . 34/10 60/21 5/0 . 99/31 1350/596 13 . . 22/7 77/16 20/6 . 119/29 1469/625 14 . . . 70/12 32/7 . 102/19 1571/644 15 . . . 68/13 31/4 . 99/17 1670/661 16 ..... ..... ..... 69/5 36/6 ..... 105/11 1775/672 17 . . . 60/12 31/3 15/3 106/18 1881/690 18 . . . 44/11 21/3 . 65/14 1946/704 19 . . . 65/14 31/2 3/0 99/16 2045/720 20 . . . 78/16 59/4 . 137/20 2182/740 21 . . . 92/23 61/6 . 153/29 2335/769 22 . . 10/1 84/16 17/2 . 111/19 2446/788 23 . . 36/12 83/11 . . 119/23 2565/811 0 ..... ..... 33/10 57/15 ..... ..... 90/25 2655/836 1 . . 48/4 53/16 . . 101/20 2756/856 2 . . 35/2 58/13 . . 93/15 2849/871 3 . 55/10 54/5 . . . 109/15 2958/886 4 8/0 35/2 54/6 . . . 97/8 3055/894 5 10/1 16/2 50/7 3/1 . . 79/11 3134/905 6 . 27/1 33/7 . . . 60/8 3194/913 7 6/0 5/0 16/1 . . . 27/1 3221/914 8 ..... 5/0 10/1 ..... ..... ..... 15/1 3236/915 9 . . 15/5 20/1 . . 35/6 3271/921 10 . . 8/2 31/5 . . 39/7 3310/928 11 . . 15/2 49/8 8/0 . 72/10 3382/938 12 . . . 40/7 22/0 . 62/7 3444/945 13 . . . 38/3 19/1 3/1 60/5 3504/950 14 . . . 39/9 36/2 . 75/11 3579/961 15 . . . 33/4 29/2 . 62/6 3641/967 16 ..... ..... ..... 27/6 27/0 1/0 55/6 3696/973 17 . . . 33/5 16/2 1/0 50/7 3746/980 18 . . . 19/2 16/2 . 35/4 3781/984 19 . . . 32/5 8/3 . 40/8 3821/992 20 . . . 37/4 22/3 . 59/7 3880/999 21 . . 1/0 46/5 14/1 6/3 67/9 3947/1008 22 . . . 6/1 . . 6/1 3953/1009 23 . . . . . . . 3953/1009 DAY1 26/3 337/136 757/346 1078/280 349/43 18/3 ..... 2565/811 DAY2 24/1 143/15 372/52 621/110 217/16 11/4 . 1388/198 TOT 50/4 480/151 1129/398 1699/390 566/59 29/7 . 3953/1009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE0UI Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,547,364 40 and 20 was most of our QSOs. Lots of 1 pointers! We did work a few Europe on 15m on a scatter path. Only 2 QSOs on 10m, probably E skip as 6m was open but no one on 10m. First try with a multiop from the new QTH with 3 ops and limited antennas but also limited condx! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE4KY Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 197,847 START-OF-LOG: 2.0 CREATED-BY: N3FJP's CQ WPX Contest Log 2.5 ARRL-SECTION: CONTEST: CQ-WPX-CW CALLSIGN: KE4KY CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CLAIMED-SCORE: 197847 OPERATORS: KE4KY CLUB: Kentucky Contest Group NAME: Thomas Glenn Petri ADDRESS: 16730 Taylorsville Rd ADDRESS: Fisherville, KY 40023 ADDRESS: (e-mail) ke4ky@bellsouth.net SOAPBOX: First effort at a real contest.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH6LC Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 9,779,810 Conditions poor but we still had a great time. Hope to work you all in CQWW CW. 73 & Aloha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KI6T Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 115,884 , ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: SOSB10(R) LP Total Score = 28,182 Combined WPX with another shack project, worked well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN7Y Class: SOSB20 LP Total Score = 107,160 To operate the contest after a couple of years of inactivity, erected a 1/4 wave vertical on 20, the base of which was about 1/4 wave off the ground. Station was an ICOM IC-706 MKIIG with auto antenna tuner IC 180. With the less favorable antenna, I found the QSB to be an issue from Arizona, however was still able to work several European countries as well as Asia and the Americas. Thanks to all for the Q's. 73 / DX. Jack, KN7Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO0U Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 1,602,304 Fun weekend. But odd conditions. 10 never opened, and 15 was a wasteland, so most time was spent on 20, with trips to 40 after sundown. 20 stayed open well after sundown Saturday evening which was good since low bands were noisy with t-storms in the area. Also 40 was weird both mornings when the loud JA's would cq in my face but the VK's and ZL's would come right back. My neighbor, KB0VVT, is home from college and celebrated by getting in the contest, so we had to do some band sharing- she would take one end of the band and I would operate the other end to try to minimize the hash from our KW's just a block and a half apart. If the reciever was overloading I would change bands. All part of the fun. Next is Field Day where Rebecca and I will both be at K0GQ doing the non-contest competetively. Hope to hear every one then. TNX for the Q's and the fun this weekend. Steve K0OU (KO0U in WPX) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO3A Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 5,031,720 Thanks to Ranko, YT6A/4O3A for letting me break in his US callsign. Lots of people logged Kzero3A (or inexplicably, KM3A) and there were a lot more dupes than usual. Got off to a good start on 40, then things really slowed down until after 1900Z Saturday. Didn't get much use out of the second radio. It was frustrating not being able to crash the European sporadic-E party. Had a brief 10-meter opening to Europe around 1630Z Sunday, which was interesting but not very productive. It's always fun to share the band with lots of sharp ops, and especially to work the occasional newcomer. Congrats to Dan, K1TO on another great performance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KP2CW/W6 Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 40,474 Glad I didn't actually travel all the way to KP2 for this one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KQ2M Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 2,243,854 My antennas and towers survived a direct hit from a CONFIRMED EF-1 tornado on 5/16 which did a lot of damage to Newtown, CT and closed the schools for 2 days. Fortunately EF-1 tornados are pretty rare here in CT and and not even close to the nightmare that devasting tornados routinely produce in other parts of the country. Still, there was a 30 second eternity when the swirling extreme winds and writhing trees made it seem like a certainty that my towers would fall. After missing the WPXSSB (my favorite contest)for only the 2nd time in 31 years, I was looking forward to this one. In early March I sustained a painful injusry to my right ear drum which brought on the horror of severe tinnitus. Tinnitus has no cure, and you can't make it stop. With medical treatment and major diet and lifestyle changes over the next 2 1/2 months, the tinnitus subsided to the level of a major constant annoyance - but the reality of trying to copy cw through the constant multi-tone high pitched whines and whistles was a cruel reminder of how far I have yet to go. Unfortunately, headphones only worsen the experience, so after 2-3 hours, the discomfort, pain and internal noise repeatedly drove me off the air to recover. I have difficulty now copying cw signals, especially in high qrm and qrn cndx and the thought of meaningful SO2R is almost laughable. It is VERY frustrating to say the least! I am sorry to say that unless this goes away, serious SOAB contest efforts will, for me, be just a memory. On the bright side, having lost almost 30 pounds since early March, I weigh LESS than when I was married 14 years ago! How many of you contesters can make that statement?! :-) I was pleasantly surprised at what I thought were excellent bottom of the cycle conditions. 80 was quiet and solid for 2 hours to EU Friday night and 40 was productive. 20 was excellent on Saturday and Saturday night. 15 was poor from New England but 10 had a really good, if spotty opening to Europe! Most years, even at the TOP of the cycle, 10 refuses to open to EU. So this was a treat - even if not enough EU contesters pointed their antennas at NA. The EU scores were remarkable on 10 and 15. That sporadic E opening must have been INCREDIBLE - if you were in Europe, that is. It was a great contest, with lots of fun and many surprises. Even if I can't do serious SOAB efforts anymore, I still don't want to miss the contests. I keep working hard at getting better and I will hope for the best! 73 and thanks for the Q's! Bob KQ2M kq2m@earthlink.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: SOAB QRP Total Score = 991,262 What a LOT OF FUN!!!! Still crazy after all these years........ INTRO Decided to play in this one on Friday the 25th when I got "released" from work at 1pm. IE, no prep. I believe this may be my first "serious" WPX cw contest, though I may have done one other at some time in the past 40 years. Usually, the wx is beautiful and I quit on Saturday morning as the sun shines in the window. ADDING UP OFF TIMES This is the first time ever that I decided to add up my "short breaks" and see how long I really operated. I did not exclude times when I was operating but having no luck (ie, tuning the band). Surprised to see that the 7 "less than 60 minute" breaks I took added up to 2 hours and 17 minutes. I did have one "break" of 41 minutes, but not sure what that was. I still see real value to breaks when "things are slow." They provide important refresher time: keep the blood circulating in the legs, stretch the back and other joints, go outside and breath some fresh air, etc. However, I would never have guessed that they totaled 2.25 hours. OUCH. After 40 years of contesting, it is still a learning process (or in my case, a matter of remembering what I forgot). WHO WILL HEAR ME? A fun feature of QRP is that you never know who will hear you. LOTS of very strong guys appear to be deaf. Some guys, who I can barely hear above the noise, come back on one call. That (the latter case) is ALWAYS exciting and cause of frequent amazement during the contest. One can only imagine why the LOUD guys can't hear me and repeatedly CQ in my face with no other takers (LOL). DO I HAVE THE LUCK OF THE IRISH? After one break (was on 20) I decided to check out 15m (2025z). I was happily rewarded with a very unexpected opening to EU: 9 EU qso's in 11 minutes (first EU q's on 15). NEAT! BAND CHANGES Being SO1R, I track my band changes: 60 in 2 days. QRPers FATE (LAMENT) Being QRP also means having your frequency stolen. NO big deal. LP guys lose to QRO and single yagi 90 foot tower guys suffer the same with big stack types. However...I did have one instance where the DX came back to R2Q? and I was stomped on by a famous "BB" - but it only happened once, so worthy of a mental note, but not much more. How does BB = R2Q????? WPX PHILOSOPHY I do note the comment by ZL6QH about WPX being "anti-10/160" and I agree. Actually, during this part of the sunspot cycle, one can spend 99% of their time on 2 bands (40/20) and easily still win. WPX is a runners delight in that little consideration need be taken for "what do I need on that band" cuz mults count once and who care what the band is. This is a very interesting (cool?) aspect of WPX. Post contest I chatted with N2AA and he asked if I got the 10m EU opening. That would have been nice, but really, who cares? Keep up rate and ignore which band you're on. WPX ILLOGICAL EXCITEMENT Even though a mult is a mult, I can't lose the DXer in me. I get more excited working A45WD or EX2A or a handful of ZLs (ZMs) than I do working another WB2. But by the end of the 'test, I just love those WB6's! And BTW, I did not even one WB2! :-( SO2R QRP WPX is one of the few "DX" contests where I can see a real need for SO2R while doing QRP. I'll have to give this a try next year. And since I have (just since last year) started to do SS, I guess SO2R is now in my future (time to cave). CONCLUSION Thanks to all for the fun ride. I was really EXCITED during the operation of this contest and I just LOVE to feel this connected to the radio and to the band conditions. It is definitely otherworldly and a wonderful escape from working life (thanks Buz). Elecraft K2 (qrp-only version). 2L HB quad at 55' (tower 1) 402CD at 80' (tower 2) 11L tribander (OB11-3) at 72' (tower 2) Wires on 80/160 Software: Still using CT Keyer: KC keyer (still works great) Thanks to all who struggled to hear me (sorry) and who took the time to CFM my serial # after many repeats. de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS0M Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 34,176 I had limited time to operate again. But, It was a fun thing. I run CW contsts using my keyer and hand key. My keyer was acting up and the "dits" were not sending properly. Made it difficult to send a repeat number. Propagation was poor. I never heard Europe intil around 2100z the last day. All in all, it was fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS7S Class: SO(A)AB LP Total Score = 133,694 My first major "prefix contest" with new call (ex-WA7SLD). Seemed to work out OK although mis-spotted one time as KH7S which caused a flurry of activity (and explaining the correct callsign - re-spotted correctly a couple of QSOs later). Not confused with K7SS as I might have expected. Anyway. my best result in one of this type of contest using only a vertical antenna. Primarily W/VE contacts but some decent DX thrown in to keep the interest going. Looking forward to better 15/10 conditions (isn't evryone!). Thanks to the contest sponsors and all who provided me the QSOs. IC-746PRO, R-7000 Vertical, microKEYER, N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS9K Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 1,504,016 Some on the East Coast see the WPX as a combination of two contests - DX and SS - when the DX slows down, they shift to running stateside stations. In that view, the past WPX was the best of all posible worlds for them. Good DXing and good stateside activity. Here in the midwest, WPX was a combination of two contests - DX and SS - but weaker DXing and without the opportunity that the coastal stations had to run lots of one pointers. I kept hearing the huge signals down in the souther USA on 15m, but was never able to get any replies to my CQs from here. Lots of daytime hours on 20 with 20 or less QSOs per hour and very few Qs found on the second radio. Ditto on 40 at night, although the rates were better from 00-04 each night. Lots of people had difficulty with the call, coming back to KI0K or something similar. I noted this a couple of years back in the "Case of the Missing Dits," when the sunspots started to disappear. I understand there were no visible sunspots during the CW WPX weekend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT0R Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 934,086 Well, operated more than expected. Bands were in better shape than expected. Mostly USA and Europe. No Asia really and some PAC. Had a good time. My cw was rusty at first but, seemed to come back quick. Had a good time Saturday evening running on 40 and getting USA and Europe calling in. Was surprised how quiet the low bands were. Wish I would have operated more Friday night. Of course money band was 20 meters. 15 never really opened and hard to get much going with 2nd radio. Seemed not really 2 bands open at once. 10 had a few sparks but was short lived. WPX always a fun contest. Nice to hear everyone on. Hope to see everyone on for Field Day and IARU. Vry 73 Dave KT0R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT2Z Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 3,510,024 This was my first time that I remember doing an all-band effort in the CQ WPX Contest. I have typically done single-band 10M efforts where I didn't have to worry about all the strategy decisions. What band should I be on, when should I take time off, should I take time off right now if my QSO rate is lagging, am I doing the SO2R thing to full effectiveness, etc???? But with some encouragement from friends, I gave it a try. I have to admit that I might be back doing a single-band next year. All that strategy thought just gives me a headache. We had thunderstorms in the area all weekend but GORF (the God of RF) directed them to pass to the east and to the west of the K5NA QTH. Thus the low bands were very noisy and required a lot of repeat requests, sometimes the high bands too. But I never had to QRT for storms. 10M was almost non-existent but I did make 5 southern European QSOs. 15M was also a disappointment with only 33 European QSOs. Of course 20M and 40M were the money bands if you were willing to work through the static crashes. I was pleasantly surprised at good conditions on 80M to the far east and made 47 JA QSOs there. However, I made zero QSOs with Europe on 80M. I scanned 160M a couple of times and worked only WV8JR. Oddly, this callsign doesn't seem to exist in the FCC database. So, who was it? Thanks to my son for allowing me to use his KT2Z callsign. 73, Richard - K5NA (KT2Z) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KT3Y Class: M/S HP Total Score = 7,164,990 surprised to find a brief opening to southern EU on 10 meters at 2200-2215z on Saturday and worked six stations. station: ts-950 and ic-765 with 1.5 kw amps 160: vert T 80 " NW/SE dipole 40 4L EU, " , E/W dipole 20 5L NE and NW, N/S, E/W stacked dipoles 15 N/S, E/W stacked dipoles 10 " " 73 Phil KT3Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU1CW Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 3,365,622 Not having my 80M 4SQ cost me dearly... WX0B box failed on few positions and when I have find that out it was too late. Few heavy thunderstorms did not help either... Thanks everyone. 73. de Alex,KU1CW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU8E Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 260,710 IC756PRO * AL811H * 130 center fed zepp @ 35 ft ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV7DX Class: M/S HP Total Score = 1,415,260 Thanks Art, N3DXX for coming to W7 to operate. Lots of good DX in spite of flux 68, A 30 and K 4. Cant get worse can it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV8Q Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 1,025,065 Second night was much better than the first. The noise was down considerably. More QSO's than last year but less point and less mults. I hope that was due to propagation and not the operator. Still hard to believe that my low power signal to a G5RV @ 45' allows me to put some decent runs together on 20 and 40. 15 never opened here and 10 was a total zero. Heard lots of EU on 80 both nights but they had a tough time hearing me. N1MM software ran flawlessly once again. Thanks for all of the Q's and will see you in the next one. RIg: TenTec Jupiter Antenna: 102' G5RV @ 45' Sortware: N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KW3A Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 2,642,331 Thanks Steve for the use of your call..I didn't work another KW3, so guess it was a new prefix for just about everyone. Solar Flux and other numbers were not looking good going into Friday night but condx seemed ok..Saturday afternoon was not good on any band. Big dis- appointment was condx on 10 and 15. Comparing last years results, I was off on 10m by almost 300 Q's and 33 mults - and 15m down over 600 Q's and 115 mults....better on the other four bands... Worked more VK/ZL's than JA's....! Come on new cycle!! Congrats to the following for having to send a lot more than most. HE70FG, LZ07KM, IG9/IV3NVN, CT1/UA4WEC, IM0/K7QB, EA7AAW/QRP, DR80AMA, 6I2YBG, 6H1ZVO, CS1GDX, YU07HST, SC300VL, NP4IW/KM6, EN80AL, 9A950DM, IT9/S52A. But, DL40RRDXA gets the grand prize... Some of the better "stuff" that called...9G5ZS, JW/OZ7BQ, TU2CI, 7X0RY, E51IFB, TC3D, 5H3EE and VQ97JC. On Saturday evening both TF3YH and OX3PG called at 2255!! Thanks to all who made it a great 36 hours once again. Know a few who were "hiding" behind strange calls but will be interesting to find out "who was who"... Rig: FT1000MP/AL1200 (2) - 1KW Ameritron ATR-30 Tuner TH-5 at 70' Alpha-Delta - 80/40 Inverted Vee - 160 All-Band Vertical Logging with CT 73, Paul, N4PN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY4F Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 319,056 Lots of fun that's for sure! Thanks for all the contacts. Due to neighborhood restrictions my antenna is pretty limited. Participation time was somewhat limited too. But, all in all this contest was a blast. Can't wait for 15 and 10 to come back to life! Rig: Ten-Tec Orion 565 Ant: Random length (about 170 feet of wire) delta loop with apex at 50 feet Tuner: SG-239 from SGC Software: N1MM Coffee: Any brand handy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY9IN Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 1,342 I'm a cw LID, but the only way you improve is by getting on and working others. Enjoy this test, had chores to deal with this weekend or I would have been QRV longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ3M Class: SO(A)AB(TS) HP Total Score = 393,600 I was excited for this one, but it was just not meant to be. I managed to get on once the kids were in bed, around 0130Z, but by then 20 was already dead into Europe so it was a 40 meter contest. When I went to 80 is was very noisy, and I was not being heard in Europe. So stayed with 40/20 the first night till QRT at 0530Z. Saturday morning was first day of the pool opening up, so did not get on the radio till around 1330Z, and 15 was dead and only LOUD Europeans were coming it. More depression. For evening #2 (starting at 0200Z) 40 seemed better than the night before, 80 was still useless and 20 was well closed to Europe. I studied my log from last year, and was looking forward to Europe being open till 0500Z again (but NO!) and nice morning (1200Z) European opening on 15 (but NO!). Quite disappoining, I did better last year running low power. paul K3STX ---------------------------------------- TS-850S with AL-811 amp 20/40 fan dipole up 40 feet (to Europe) 80 M vertical with 16 radials ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ5D Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 1,537,990 Surprisingly good conditions. Lots of fun. Wish I could have added the additional 8 hours of operating time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ5OM Class: SOSB20 QRP Total Score = 713 20m wire dipole I just threw up in the tree. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ6D Class: SOSB40 HP Total Score = 1,338,846 A glance at Geoclock reveals a near-total lack of darkness overlap between W6 and the entire Eurasian landmass at this time of year. Only a masochist would expect much from a night-time band like 40m, especially with the weekend's expanded auroral oval, but I wanted to try my two 'NL Moxon Yagi antennas. Nothing much before sunset and no EU the first evening, but the band hung on surprisingly late to Asia and Oceania after sunrise. With only a few daylight exceptions, I worked whatever I could hear and enjoyed the contest, and the antennas are far enough apart to allow S&P on B while transmitting on A, though a little hard on the transceiver attenuators. (2)x TS-950/Alpha 87/2el Moxon Yagi/Logikeyer with PTT/Dell GX-50 with CT 9.92 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LA3BO Class: SOSB10 HP Total Score = 48,160 Part time operation, since main objective was with LN9Z on 80. Much QSB and weak signals, but no QRN, so compared with 80 it was a dream. 73 de Svein, LA3BO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LN3Z Class: M/S HP Total Score = 4,165,840 Jon and I alone M/S. We were not prepared for this, and sad to say we fell to sleep in front of the radio about 0430 local time second day. This resulted in 5 hours off time....well its only a hobby. Nice 10m Es opening. Horrible values with K-3 to 6 SFI-68 !! So after all - not to bad. Thanks to all who patiently repeated their calls and numbers - it was hard at sometimes. Hopefully next major contest will be with a 40m yagi. We need to improve that band a lot. 73 Paul - LA6YEA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LN5O Class: SOSB40 HP Total Score = 1,949,594 Rig: kenwood TS2000 PA: AL80B 1kw ANT: 2el yagi Software:N1MM logger HArdware:MicroHAM usb keyer Nice moments: -strongest from US were NK7U -many nice DX from far east specially many chinese stations, YB, 9M, VR2C First time I done serious 40m effort and I had hard time with keep QRG clean. See you in IARU as LN2HQ 40m cw. 73 LA6FJA Rag http://www.la6fja.eu/rcc/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LN9Z Class: SOSB80 HP Total Score = 680,340 This was my first attempt from LN9Z. Probably one of the best locations in Norway, with a lot of potential. High noise level made reception difficult though, and the nights are short up here in the north. The results did not meet expectations, but it was a nice experience anyway. Sorry for all I could not pull through the QRN, and thanks to all who were patient! 73 de Svein, LA3BO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LR4E Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 4,735,588 TNX to Jorge and Ana for their hospitality and support. It was a shame we could not fix the 4 el KLM for 40 mts. We had to use an inverted V insted 50 ft high. Rigs: IC781 + FT 1000 MP (BACKUP) Amp: Alpha 76 @ 800 W + SB 220 (BACK UP) Antennas: JVP 6 el tribander, Inverted V for 40 m, loop for 80. Logging Soft: N1MM 73 LU5DX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LU8EOT Class: SOSB15 LP Total Score = 339,587 Estation: Rig. Kenwood TS-180S (PWR) 100 W. Ant. 2 El. Quad for 21 Mhz. to 10M up. Thank you to all ... 73!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LX7I Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 11,493,480 I want to thank all the OMs who called us!!! It was a big pleasure to have such a good Team operate from my station.They realy did a great Job. Thanks to Lars DF1LON Carsten DL1EFD Jürgen DL4SDW and Bernd DL8SCG It was our first M/2 aktivity and also the first time we used Wintest in a contest.Thunderstorm and static made operation not easy. As we arrived at LX7I our old 4-Square for 80M was damaged and this was the last contest for this antenna. It will be dismateled and be replaced by a better antenna for 80M. Not only this antenna but much more changes will be made to the antenna-system to improve our signal. Hopfully everything will be ready for the next big contests. The new shack and improvments on switching the receiving antennas made operation easier. 73s de Philippe LX2A / LX7I / LX9DX www.lx2a.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LY2IJ Class: SOSB160 HP Total Score = 202,764 QRN, QRN, QRN... Lighting from all directions all arround all weekend. That slowed rate significantly and made most of participants to avoid 160. I made temprorary 2 250m long, one 150m and reversible 220m Beveridge before contest - that helped a lot. 120 Qso less than last year and 30 % less points. EU 366 NA 4 AS 15 SA 1 Thanks for patience! 73 Arunas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LY8O Class: SO(A)SB80 HP Total Score = 552,380 As for many of us - number of thunderstorms (especialy in the dark time in my location - Murphy law...) decrease activity on the low bands. There was no possibility to log many weaker stations - sorry for that - and ask to repeat call and number for stations which could be received "without antenna" under normal conditions - sorry for that as well. Thanks for everyone - for patience and understanding - and hope to hear you again on the bands. 73' Remi LY8O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LZ07KM Class: SOAB(TS) LP Total Score = 1,564,884 TS850, Cushcraft A3s , 1/2 slopers 80/40 Worst score in last 5 years.Did this WPX from home as high band antennas were dismantled at contest site.Hope to provide this rare prefix for many of you. Some difficulties to copy LZ07KM with my low power.Instead of LZ0ZKM,many copied LZ06KM which is in contest database,but was active in 2006.See info at qrz.com This operation remember my effort in 2004 as LZ04KM with such difficulties. Congrats to all who copied callsign correctly! Iam happy to be in top difficult callsigns list from N4PN , but I had a two superkings worked here: PA25UKSMG and DQ50PASSAU. :)) Congrats to LZ8A,LZ3FN for big numbers,LZ4UU as well.Watch out,my new tower is ready for erection ,3ele 40m array is pre-tuned.Hope to be competitive again for new contest season. Thanks to BFRA for using LZ07KM in this contest. QSL via LZ1PJ 73 de Nasko,LZ3YY ( LZ9R ) and LZ07KM in WPX 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LZ4UU Class: SOAB LP Total Score = 1,563,992 First to say,I'm very pleased that the WX stayed nice(respectively there weren't any QRN:) 10/15 was great,but that caused missing many DX&multipliers on 20...Very bad condx to US on 20(30 stns or so for the entire contest,most of them on 40m),also a very few JA-s that time.The best DX direction that time was Africa,everything heard is in my log,including VQ97JC on 80 meters:) 73 and cu in All Asian! Iliya ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: LZ8A Class: SOAB(TS) HP Total Score = 5,177,130 This year I have 1000 QSO more, but the result is almost the same as 2006. 75% of QSO's were with EU stns. Condx was poor with few openings to NA/SA/OC. 80/40m were usable till Sat evening, when thunderstorms began. I took my rest periods according to the lightnings - if they are too close I'm taking a break :) That gave me possibility to watch F1 race :) Good activity from LZ, only LZ8 pfx is missing, because I was the only one LZ8 stn. Congratulations to LZ07KM, LZ3FN, LZ4UU for good scores! Thanks to all friends who worked with me and sorry for lot of repeats. 73, CIAGN! Boyan LZ2BE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: MD0CCE Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 435,420 Only a few hours due to travel commitments - fun contest, and great to see so much activity on 10 meters! Rig: FT2K, Quadra, Butternut vertical on all bands ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1IW Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 1,355,952 Hey, let's have some fun in the Memorial Day weekend free-for-all! Wasn't out to set any records, just participate and have fun. Still sorting out all of the parts that make SO2R work well. Weekend WX here in NH was outstanding so not much time in chair during the day. Hitting the 1000 Q mark would have been cake if I had worked the high bands to Europe in the morning. Have a GREAT Summer and tnx for the Qs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2MM Class: SOSB20 HP Total Score = 1,678,318 What else can be said....a frustrating, but interesting contest. Saturday AM, 20m opened late to EU and a very short opening at best; mostly southern Europe. Things improved later in the afternoon. Antenna was pointed East to europe (scatter path?)As if someone turned on the switch, signals became loud from all over and it didn't seem to matter where the antena was! Lost an hour Saturday night due to thunderstorms, but EU and VK/ZL were still coming through almost midnight local time... Sunday AM, the band was open to Europe at 5AM, but it was mostly one way (the wrong way) propagation. Very Frustrating...Throughout the day, very slow. Around 2000z, the band beceame really runnable, again peaking from the East. Some of the more exotic prefixes called in; i.e. EX, UP1, etc. Of course the band became very crowded all the way up to 14100!. A45WD was loud and all alone at 14085! No Southeast ASIA, only 2 JA, and very few SA! There were more Africn stations than JA and SA combined. Some intersting Africans that called were 7Q7, J2, CN, ZS, 3X, etc. I want to thank my surgeon for enabling me to put in a full time effort for this contest. After a minor procedure Friday morning, he gave me strict orders not to do any heavy work or lifting.I was to take it very easy!!!Unfortunately, that meant that the the grass, now almost 2- feet high could not be cut! Oh well, there is always next Saturday. ( Did I hear rain in the forecast?) Station.... IC 756 PRO Alpha 78 amplifier 204BA @ 90 feet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: SOSB20 LP Total Score = 836,640 Was surprised at the number of hours I put in... hadn't planned more than 24, but Saturday was so poor here, and I wanted to be my score... well one thing lead to another... I think everyone had a hard time, by the number of repeats requested. The frustration level musta been high, heard a few frequency disputes. Some VERY patient operators. Thanks to all who struggled with my exchanges with the QSB and QRN. Sorry to those I missed... All in all, had a good time, kinda wish I had worked the low bands and maybe 10, sure I missed some fun and excitement there. Thanks for the Qs all! 73, Julius n2wn Elecraft K2/100 #4411 and 4 el SteppIR on a AB-621 about 15M tall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WQ/VE3 Class: SOSB40 HP Total Score = 1,027,216 Very modest equipment here- Icom 756 Pro 3, Timewave 599zx audio DSP filter, Ten-Tec Centurion amp, and a full-size vertical for 40m. Could not work any JAs. Participated for only 26 of the allowed 36 hours max, so there is a room for improvement next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2YO Class: SO(A)AB HP Total Score = 900,850 IC-738 + SB-200 + vert. 5BTV + N1MM v6.10.5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3BB Class: SOAB HP Total Score = 3,278,190 The WPX is one of my favorite contests since it includes a maximum operating time of 36 hours and thus some strategy is required. If possible I like to start with a solid JA run on 15 meters, and then switch to 20 meters for EU and then 40 for EU. It is really really difficult to run EU on 40 meters here even with the best antennas and it is interesting (frustrating) to hear the east coast run them like they are locals. For us it is almost impossible except at EU sunrise when the signal enhancement bounce helps. From here in central Texas the off-time plans usually are based on taking the time between the EU and JA runs on 40 meters. The last EUs runs are workable between 03Z and 04Z, which is before ten PM here, so obviously the Ws still are up and active then. We can work EU on 40 two or three hours after their sunrise, but the rates are not high. If we get a polar opening on 20 meters then that is the single best opening we ever get in the summer conditions to EU but at the bottom of the sunspot cycle that opening does not happen, so I worked the Ws until the rate dropped as only the hard core stayed up. Since the JA sunset is about 10Z, and we can start working them (running them) on 40 meters at 09Z, I took off from 0630Z until 0930Z as sleep time. I struggled to waken and started CQing, and the first four QSOs on 40 meters were with VK4, E51, JA9, and a 3D2, so the band was open to the Pacific. With EU and JA et al being six pointers, a key element of this contest is maximizing these sixers. The 40 meter JA/Pacific run continued until 12Z, but the JAs become fewer and fewer and the Ws become more and more until 40 meters was procucing one point per QSO and it was time to look for EU on 20 meters and get the prefix trove as well as three points per contact. We hope that 15 meters will open to EU as there is less noise and QRM than on 20 meters, and the rates are better, but Saturday that did not happen. So Saturday was a slog to EU and the US on 20 meters and a very difficult day. After the absorption on 20 meters to EU becomes almost total, then it's Ws on 20 and 15 and good prefixes but one point per QSO. So I took my second break from around 1715Z until around 1945Z, to get at least one good ninety minute REM sleep cycle. I wakened to find 20 meters reviving a little to EU, but things still pretty sloggy. My hope was for a JA opening on 15 meters at late afternoon but we got skunked again, nada. So much for that. The first day was almost as bad as it gets, with no JAs on 15, no over the pole opening on 20, and no EU run on 15 meters. Somehow I ended up day one with 1,360 contacts and was amazed! Only the JAs on 40 meters had been pretty good. (Note for the northeast USA readers, does this sound like we are in a different contest? The answer is YES!) The good news for us was that no storms had approached, which is terrific. As K5NA noted in his comments, the radar showed strong storms coming north from the Gulf of Mexico and splitting into two large masses, one to our west and one to our east. That was a huge break so far, but it was not to last for me. At 0230Z, a storm approached. So much for the "break." Fortunately it caused rain static only from 0230 to 0245, so I lost only a bit of rate. There was no lightning. EU seemed a little better on 40 meters than day one, with a nice little burst of contacts between 0330 and 0400Z. Then it was "that" for the bulk of EU and I slogged on using 40 meters through the W one-pointers and some EU stations who were coming in until 0630Z (three or four hours after their sunrise!) until the rate pooped out and so I took another sleep break from 0600Z until 0920Z, when I struggled to waken and meet my good JA buddies for our second go. The JAs were there, but there were fewer to work after a good first day. Then another storm came over from 11Z to 12Z and that caused severe rain static again and lower rates. By this time I had used almost nine hours of off-time and had planned for only one remaining slot in the mid afternoon when twenty meters got draggy. It was the same ole' same ole' slogging through 20 meters with a few EU and mostly Ws when at 14Z I noticed that 15 meters seemed to be opening and Heavens to Betsy, the good old band opened to EU! There were not great big openings to EU but combined with good W rates, it was refreshing and much better that slogging on 20 meters with most stations already having been worked there. So it was off to some form of the races on 15 meters, until 18Z when the band faded, and I took off my last break from from 1820Z until 2050Z. I took a shower and managed a 30 minute very deep sleep in that time and was ready to hit it hard the rest of the way. I kept at it along with plenty of hard core SO2R on 20 meters. At 2030 another storm approached and there was rain static again for almost thirty minutes with an effect on the rates. At 2130Z I switched SO2Ring to 20 and 10 meters and enjoyed a little opening on 10 meters, although others must have discovered the ten meter band open before I did and got an advantage. I felt pretty good then, and was ready to grind it out on 20 meters the last two hours with SO2Ring on 15 and 10 and then on 40 at the end. But disaster struck for me as a major storm cell developed right over me (as seen on the radar loop on TV after the contest ended), and a bad rain static enveloped all the antennas. I could hear only on 10 meters as that tower is nestled between the higher ones for 15 and 20 meters, and also I was not able to listen only on the lower antennas of these stacks. So, I ended up with two hours of twenty two QSOs per hour, or forty four total contacts the last two hours. That certainly was not the way I had hoped to end the contest, but it was the way it ended. It was a close race here with K5NA but he did better on ten meters and racked up an impressive JA total on 80 meters-great sixers there. He had two pretty good last hours on 20 meters and pulled away to a nice margin with that. Congratulations to Richard, and to all the terrific efforts across the board. Thanks to John, NT5C, for allowing me to use his call again this year. With several serious WPX contests now as "John," I probably have made more CW contacts with NT5C than John, the renowned SSB DXer, has! Thanks again, John. Below is my rate sheet FYI. Jim N3BB NT5C rate 2007 WPX CW HOUR 160CW 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 0 0 0 0 117 9 0 126 126 1 0 0 22 64 10 0 96 222 2 0 0 11 105 0 0 116 338 3 0 0 72 14 0 0 86 424 4 0 8 62 1 0 0 71 495 5 0 13 72 0 0 0 85 580 6 0 12 26 0 0 0 38 618 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 618 8 0 0 0 0 0 0